Nullifying Trouble
by Written-Ideas1
Summary: Tori Adams has a talent for finding trouble, at least according to several Justice League members. It helps that her power's pretty useful to have around-the ability to nullify the powers of others. As the future superhero "Null," she's learning to use her power (which exhausts her), work with a team of future heroes such as herself, and be the superhero she has always dreamed of.
1. The Beginning of Null

Hello, everyone! This is Written-Ideas1 and I hope everyone will enjoy this story-well, the first chapter, at least. Thanks for taking the time to click on this story!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my OC, Victoria Adams and her family.

* * *

 **Chapter 1: The Beginning of Null**

She hears a scream first, before seeing the evil grin on the crude villain. She stands still as she watches several people appear right before her eyes. Her eyes are glued to the battle scene happening right in front of her. It doesn't take long before the villain is stopped, or so everyone thinks. She screams, "look!" and points her right hand out at the villain who looks like he's about to use his powers. One of the men, wearing a dark suit and a permanent scowl on his face, knocks the villain out while everyone else keeps gazing at her and then at the villain.

She watches as two women make their way to her.

"Did you see that?"

"I did," the brunette woman answers before stopping right in front of the young girl.

The young girl looks up at them. She reaches out her hands, attempting to touch the feathered wings of one of the women. The winged woman takes a step back. The young girl looks adorable, at least in the eyes of the adults. Her mid-length brunette hair is tied in pigtails and her violet eyes are filled with a mischievous glint.

"Tori!" A voice yells out and Tori turns around to see her mother running towards her. Tori grins and runs to her mom. Her mom envelops her in a tight hug. "Oh, thank goodness you're alright! You shouldn't just disappear like that, Tori! You had me worried sick!"

"Me sorry…" the girl apologizes, looking like she is about to cry.

"Oh, Tori, I'm just glad you're safe and sound."

The several heroes stand there and watch the mother-daughter interaction. Although, most of them are more curious about the young girl and what she did. Could she have abilities? How else would they explain the sudden disappearance of Black Adam's powers.

"Thank you so much, Justice League, for saving my daughter's life," the mother says, a kind smile on her face. Most of the members of the Justice League nod. "Come on dear, we've got to go home before your papa freaks out on us."

"Ooh! I wanna see papa!" Tori replies, but then she turns around and gives the Justice League a toothy grin. "Thanks much, super people!"

The 5-year-old girl skips along beside her chuckling mother and they disappear out of sight. Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Batman, Aquaman, Hawkwoman, Superman, The Flash, and Green Lantern exchange glances. Green Lantern is the first one to break the silence. He uses his shield and envelops the villain in a cage of green light.

"I'll get him locked up. See you guys later."

"Roger that, Green Lantern," Superman replies, "the rest of you, back to patrolling."

One by one, the heroes leave until Wonder Woman and Batman are the last ones. Wonder Woman quirks her eyebrow, knowing that Batman would be the one most intrigued to find out what happened today.

"What do you make of this, Batman?"

"Who knows…Let's go." Batman says without waiting for a reply as he gets into his Batmobile and speeds off. Wonder Woman just shakes her head before flying off.

* * *

Tori does not like being weak. She does not like it when villains think that they've won either. Watching closely at the superhero in front of her, she tries to find an opening to help him. The man is dressed in, no surprise there, a skin-tight green uniform, a black mask, a green hood, and Tori figures he should be known as the modern-day Robin Hood. The fact that his quiver is almost out of arrows doesn't help Tori's racing heart. The villain, Killer Frost, doesn't seem to notice the young girl, but Green Arrow does. She waits as he aims his arrow at the villainess, the latter about to freeze Green Arrow. She raises her hand and feels a surge of power escape, nullifying Killer Frost's powers at the same time that Green Arrow unleashes his arrow.

Green Arrow hands the female villain over to the police officers before turning his attention to Tori. He raises his hand and they high five. "Good teamwork out there, kid!" He grins, ruffling the girl's hair. The both of them hear someone clearing their throat and they turn around to see a blonde haired woman dressed in a blue jacket, black skin tight swimsuit-like, sleeveless shirt, grey leggings and combat boots. The older woman quirks an eyebrow at the both of them.

"Arrow, what do you think you're doing?"

Green Arrow rubs the back of his head, "just celebrating our victory over Killer Frost, Canary."

Black Canary turns to look at Tori, giving the younger girl a kind smile. Tori makes her way over to the older woman before giving Canary a hug. Canary bends a little to return the hug before sighing. "Why are you always in the wrong place at the wrong time, Tori? You should run away when you see villains."

"But I can't just run away! It's a hero's duty to save people!" The girl exclaims, pouting. It's no surprise to most of the Justice League that the girl would always try to help them if she catches the heroes in a pickle. Black Canary isn't the first, nor will she be the last, Justice League member who advises Victoria Lynn Adams from entering a fight. Sure, all of them find her abilities useful to have around, but they're not about to risk the life of a 9-year-old girl. The two superheroes share an exasperated look before turning their attention back to their eager crime fighter. They know that Tori doesn't try to find trouble. Unfortunately, trouble has a way of finding her. Green Arrow looks at his watch.

"Canary, mind taking the little lady back to her house? I promised to meet Speedy for his training session in," he looks down at his watch again, "5 minutes ago."

Black Canary rolls her eyes, "you should be setting a better example for your protégé, Arrow. But whatever, I'll walk Tori back to her home." Tori waves bye to Green Arrow as he disappears around the corner. National City, the amazing city of actors, actresses, singers, and celebrities. Palm trees, somewhat-high rise buildings, and sandy beaches are a few of the many distinct characteristics of National City. Sometimes, Tori hates the constant vibrant lifestyle of the rich and famous. She would rather witness something more worthy—like a fight between Superman and Count Vertigo, or a fight between Batman and Joker. She wants to be around the superheroes who are doing their best to save the world, not be around the people who just spend their time _entertaining_.

"Tori, what are you thinking about?"

The young girl shakes her head before running ahead, "come on, Black Canary, I have to get home before papa gets mad! I have to tell him I want pizza too!"

Black Canary chuckles at the young girl. She has no doubt that the girl will grow into a strong, independent woman someday. But before that happens, Black Canary thinks, the Justice League must do their best to protect the world from any who wants to harm it. The older woman smiles at the cheerful laughter filling the air. Tori begin tugging on Canary's hand, all the while giggling about her papa's bad attempt at cooking.

* * *

In just a couple of months, Tori is introduced to the first ever sidekick in the whole world. Batman's protégé, Robin, causes a stir in Tori's heart. She wants to be like Robin too. She watches as the TV shows the Boy Wonder fighting alongside Batman against the Joker. Robin throws a couple of birdarangs –at least that's what the newscaster says—at Joker's feet to distract the madman. It didn't seem to matter to Robin that he's facing a notable supervillain that has caused havoc in Gotham time and again. Tori wants to be like him; she wants to save the world too. As soon as Robin makes his cackling debut, Green Arrow, Flash, and Aquaman introduce their own protégé to the world: Speedy, Kid Flash, and Aqualad, respectively.

Tori pulls her hair into a ponytail and slings her bag over her left shoulder, "Papa, I'm heading out now! Your coffee's on the kitchen counter!" she yells before grabbing a bagel with her free hand.

"Thanks, honey and have fun at school!" her dad yells back.

She's humming to herself as she wonders about the competition coming up. She hasn't decided on what piece she will use and she needs to do it soon. After all, if she does really well, she will be able to get into the prestigious National Academy for the Young Performers. She has to get into that school and get the scholarship for her papa. She makes her way to her school, lost in a daydream of superheroes and sidekicks.

"Look out!" she hears someone shout before noticing that she stumbled upon the usual battle scene. She notices Count Vertigo, Joker, Poison Ivy, and Wotan going up against Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Flash, Black Canary, and Aquaman. A pair of hands grabs her by the waist and pulls her to safety, away from Poison Ivy's monstrous plants. She looks up to see Batman giving her a stern look.

She gives him an apologetic look, "sorry, Batman, I was… lost in the clouds."

"Just get yourself out of the way," Batman states, making his way to rejoin the battle. To say that Tori is feeling indignant would be an understatement. She isn't an idiot. This is not the first time she finds herself involved with the Justice League's battles. Besides, who cares what Batman says? Tori's going to help them whether they want her to or not. She focuses her eyes on Poison Ivy and Wotan, because she knows her powers wouldn't really affect Joker and Count Vertigo. Wonder Woman, Flash, and Aquaman are glaring at Wotan as Batman is facing off the Joker. Superman seems to be handling Count Vertigo by himself and Black Canary and Green Arrow teams up to go against Poison Ivy.

Tori is waiting for an opening and catches Black Canary's eyes. The older woman nods her head, giving her a silent signal. Tori smirks and counts to three before nullifying Poison Ivy's powers. At that exact moment, Poison Ivy loses control over her plants as Green Arrow shoots his explosive arrows at Ivy's plants while Black Canary knocks the villainess out of consciousness. The 9-year-old girl turns her attention to Wotan and tries to get Wonder Woman to glance at her. Instead, the King of Atlantis gives her a swift nod and Tori uses her powers again, panting heavily at using it more than usual. Joker is attempting to escape after noticing Wotan's and Ivy's defeat. Count Vertigo, on the other hand, is furious at his supposed teammates.

Batman captures the Joker and knocks the clown out before the latter could start making remarks. Black Canary, Green Arrow, and Flash make their way to Tori, thanking her for her help. Tori shifts from one foot to the other, and her face looks a little flushed.

"C-can…"

"Can?" Flash asks, quirking his eyebrow at the girl. The other League members are now paying attention to the younger girl.

"C-can I… can I please be a sidekick?!" Tori yells out, looking down with her flushed pink face. The League members exchanged looks. Batman didn't want a girl without experience being a sidekick and was about to tell her that when Wonder Woman nudges him. Tori looks up, her eyes watering. "I know I'm not strong yet… but I swear I can learn to be stronger! Please train me! I want to save the world too…"

Green Arrow and Flash look away, knowing the effects of the girl's awesome puppy dog eyes. Besides, it's not going to be their call to come up with a decision. Wonder Woman and Black Canary soften their gazes while looking at her. Wonder Woman glares at Batman, silently telling him to agree. She knows how determined the younger girl is and Tori has been helping them for a while now. It's only right for her to train to be a superhero in the future. Black Canary, with similar thoughts to Wonder Woman, wants this opportunity to train the girl since the girl does have a talent for finding trouble. Besides, it'll be better if Tori can defend herself in these situations instead of just relying on her powers and the help of other superheroes. Superman refuses, thinking that Tori is just a young girl and didn't want her to subject herself to the dangerous life when she has so much she should enjoy while she's young. Aquaman is indifferent to the situation, thinking that the girl has capabilities but knowing that it's not his position to decide.

"Fine," Batman replies, "but remember, your training session begins soon." Batman's scowl deepens at Superman's pointed glare. Tori doesn't notice this. She grins happily and without thinking, runs up to give Black Canary and Wonder Woman a hug. Then, realizing she needs to get to school, she hurries over to hug Green Arrow, Flash, and even managed to get the stiff Atlantean king to participate with the hug.

"What are you thinking?" Superman asks, after handcuffing Count Vertigo.

"The girl's a magnet for trouble. We should try to teach her to defend herself for when we won't be around," the Dark Knight replies, jumping into his Batmobile. He feels a migraine coming on. Hopefully, her determination to be stronger is more than just empty words.

* * *

Tori knows about superheroes and their secret identities. However, at that moment, she feels a little silly for wearing sunglasses at night. Maybe she should get a ski mask or something, but that would look worst and Tori, although preferring comfier clothes, would not subject herself to wearing anything considered as a bad fashion statement. Hey, she may be nine but she still wants to try to look good. She's at Star City, waiting to meet Green Arrow and his sidekick, Speedy. From what Green Arrow has been bemoaning to her, Speedy sounds like a hothead with a strong pride for his archery skills.

The Justice League members decided a couple of days ago that nobody knows exactly how to train Tori. Hence, here she is, trying out archery for the first time to see if she's suited for the bow and arrow lifestyle. Green Arrow instructs her on how to hold the bow as Speedy evaluates the pipsqueak. The young protégé keeps glaring in Tori's direction. It's clear for Tori to see that Speedy doesn't seem to like her at all. Trying to ignore the pointed glare, she focuses on listening to Green Arrow's instructions.

"Kid, just relax. Don't stare into the distance like something's gonna come out and eat you," Green Arrow looks amused, "remember, precision and speed are the keys to surviving the battle." Tori nods her head, focusing at the daunting looking bullseye in front of her. She fires several arrows as quickly as she could. Sinking to her knees, she can hear Speedy laughing in the distance as the older teen goes over to pick up the arrows. Most of the arrows land on the floor a few feet before the target.

"Oh man, kid, you just made my day with how badly you shot," Speedy comments, "now I feel better about my skills."

Tori glances at Green Arrow to see the mentor trying to stifle his laughter, "I'm guessing that archery is not the path for me then…"

Kid Flash grins at the new arrival before running over to introduce himself. Flash couldn't help but smile at the eagerness of his nephew. Even though it's broad daylight this time around, Tori still feels a little weird wearing sunglasses. Then again, Tori is not used to being out in the sunlight when most of her time is spent in school every day. Kid Flash's sudden appearance makes Tori jump and land on her butt—thankfully, on the somewhat soft grassy ground. The Flash frowns at Kid Flash who is sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.

The younger superhero offers his hand and Tori takes it with a grateful smile, "Thanks, Kid Flash. It's, uh, nice being scared by you."

"Sorry, Tori, the kid's a little too excited to meet you today," The Flash explains, quirking an eyebrow at his nephew. Kid Flash gives a nervous chuckle.

Tori blushes at that, "No, no, that's fine. I think I would have done the same if my heart isn't doing somersaults."

Kid Flash grins at her before turning his attention to the city around him. He recognizes National City by its palm trees and beaches. Kid Flash whistles, "we should totally go to the beaches here."

"Maybe," Tori turns her attention to the older Flash, "so, what are we up to today?"

"Batman wants to know your nullifying limits and hopefully beat those limits. Kid Flash will be running in circles around the park and your job is to keep using your powers on him."

Kid Flash lowers his goggles down and gives Tori a thumbs up, "can't wait to see what you can do, beautiful."

Both Tori and Flash roll their eyes as Kid Flash starts running. Tori focuses on Kid Flash's blurred figure and releases a spurt of energy at him. It eventually slows him down and Tori continuously allows the energy to flow towards KF. The Flash notices the beads of sweat forming on the girl's forehead as she does her best to focus. Kid Flash gives her another thumbs up as encouragement while feeling a bit disturbed at his slow speed. Tori lands on her butt, too tired to continue her focus and Kid Flash races over to his mentor to look at the stopwatch.

"4 minutes and 37 seconds. Not bad, Tori, but we should keep working on this. You know that fights are going to be much longer than 4 minutes and 37 seconds."

Tori can't help but admire the batmobile and its speed. But that is not what took her breath away. She glances all around her, trying to take in all of Gotham City. The city is definitely vibrant with life and yet, she can feel her goosebumps rising at the shady alleys and the sounds of sirens in the air. She understands why Batman is the perfect hero for such a city; a strong, strict man such as him will be able to reign in any crime from causing too much damage. They pull into a cave and when the batmobile rolls to a stop, Tori sees a boy with black hair and in her own words, the most colorful costume ever. He's wearing a domino mask to protect his identity, much like how Tori has been wearing her sunglasses. Of course, the Justice League already knows how she looks like though.

"Hey!" the boy greets as soon as she gets out of the vehicle, "I'm Robin and you must be Tori."

Batman gets out and narrows his eyes at the Boy Wonder. Tori sees Robin looking down and wonders if she should do anything about it. With courage, she walks up to Robin and smiles. "Yup, my name's Tori and I'm so glad to finally meet you! You're like the first sidekick ever! You were my inspiration to find my courage to beg the Justice League to let me be a sidekick," she gushes, grabbing both of Robin's hands and shaking them up and down.

Batman, to say the least, is amused as Robin's face turns pink. Tori continues to smile, oblivious to the obvious shyness that Robin is unexpectedly feeling. Robin knows that he is Richard John Grayson, for goodness sakes, he should not be acting shy. Then, they hear the door creak open, sending Tori jumping and into Robin's arms. Robin has a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Don't even think about it, Master Robin," Alfred calls out from where he emerges from the door with a tray of a couple of soda, tea, and water. Robin sighs and let Tori down from his arms instead of dropping her. Tori gives the boy a light smack in the arm as the latter pretends to be severely injured. The young superheroine sidekick starts laughing, finding her nerves disappearing. Alfred makes his way to Batman and gives a slight smirk, "I do believe this is the start of a beautiful friendship, sir."

Batman allows a rare smile to appear on his face, "maybe you're right," before turning his attention to the sidekicks. Replacing the smile on his face with a stern look, "time to begin your training session, Tori. Robin, I want you to demonstrate the basics and Tori will try them out. Understood?"

"Roger," "Understood!" both of them answer in unison.

It is a month later before Tori gets the opportunity to meet the stoic Aqualad and his mentor, Aquaman, for a training in her nullifying abilities. She's wearing a pair of flip flops, sunglasses, and a one-piece red swimsuit. She has a feeling that she'll probably get wet since she's dealing with two water-users. She catches sight of Aquaman's mid-length blonde hair (which she thinks should warrant the King of Atlantis the role of a shampoo commercial model) and then two figures begin walking towards her. The younger of the two has a blank expression, curly blonde hair, and darker skin.

She waves at them with a kind smile, "Aquaman! It's been a while," she greets.

"Yes, it has been a while, Tori. My apologies. There was much to do in Atlantis," the superhero explains before gesturing to his protégé, "this is my student, Aqualad."

Aqualad gives her a nod, "you may call me Kaldur if you wish to. It is a pleasure to meet you."

She stares at them and gives them a blank expression, "yes, thank you, Kaldur. And you may call me Tori," she says, before breaking into a grin. Yup, the whole stoic, serious thing is not for her. Kaldur and Aquaman exchange looks before smiling at the younger girl. Aquaman explains that Kaldur will demonstrate the mystical arts of Atlantis and her job is to keep nullifying each spell the sidekick conjures. Tori understands that Batman is trying to lengthen the frequency of her using her ability. She will never underestimate Batman's ability to think and come up with the perfect plans. She's glad to be able to train on not just lengthening the time she can keep using her power on someone, but to use it on more occasions during a fight.

Besides, Batman and Robin have been helping her with combat training, though she notices that the best person to train her with that is…

"Are you ready to show the world your face?" Black Canary asks, tucking a loose strand of Tori's hair back into place. The current 10-year-old sidekick grins at her mentor and proceeds to run into the battle scene. "Oh, they sure do grow up too fast, Arrow," Canary comments as Speedy grumbles at Tori for leaving him behind. Green Arrow chuckles and both mentors follow their sidekicks, Speedy and Null, into battle.

* * *

Thanks again for making to the end! Have a great day :)


	2. Summer Camp

Hello, everyone! It's Written-Ideas1 again, back with the second chapter of "Nullifying Trouble". Welcome to newcomers and welcome back to people who have followed and favorite my story! Thanks for taking the time to click on this story! I would love to give a shout-out to those who followed and favorite the story, you guys give me the encouragement and inspiration to keep writing despite the crazy college semester I've got going on!

So, special thanks to: **Down2earth360** , **rainshadow22142** , **brave-story** , **TheGabification** , **DarkShadowEclipse** , and **Regin**!

Thanks as well to those who reviewed:

 **Guest** : Well, my plot has kind of been planned out with him, but I'll think it over with regards to your comments.

 **MoustachedCat** : Thanks for your kind comments! Here's the next chapter :)

 **Abby** : Yes, her reason does seem a little lazy, but it'll make sense later when more things are explained. Something does happen to her that makes her want to 'save the world' and her reason... perhaps, might prove herself-I hope. Hmm, I'm sorry but I did have it planned out with him but since there are two reviews on this, I'll definitely think it over. If I do end up not 'leaving Robin alone,' I swear I will do everything I can to make to it more unique in more ways than one.

 **Down2earth360** : Thank you so much for your kind comment! I hope I'm keeping up with your expectations. Please keep letting me know how I'm doing :)

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my OC, Victoria Adams and her family.

Now, on to the story!

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Summer Camp**

Batman, Green Arrow, and Aquaman look proud as their sidekicks are finally achieving a huge milestone in their superhero careers. Batman places his hand on Robin's shoulder, "today is the day."

"Welcome to the Hall of Justice," Green Arrow continues, grinning at Speedy.

"Headquarters of the Justice League," Aquaman adds in his two cents.

"Oh, man! I knew we'd be the last ones here," Kid Flash complains, halting to a stop right before the three pairs of mentors and students.

The reporters are taking countless pictures and videos as the superheroes and sidekicks make their way into the Hall of Justice. In front of them, the Hall of Justice looks like a huge fortress. Unfortunately, it seems to be a tourist spot. The reporters are all making comments, something the heroes must be used to facing, but it's mostly ignored as the sidekicks are bursting with excitement and nervousness.

"I'm glad we're all here," Aqualad comments.

"Have all four sidekicks ever been in the same place at the same time?" Kid Flash asks, staring in awe at the overwhelming building.

" _Don't_ call us sidekicks, not after today," Speedy interjects.

"Sorry, first time at the hall, I'm a little overwhelmed," Kid Flash apologizes, looking sheepish.

"You're overwhelmed. Freeze is underwhelmed. Why isn't anyone just whelmed?" Robin looks exasperated.

"Oh right, did Null mention why she couldn't make it today?" Kid Flash wonders.

Robin and Aqualad exchange a look while the former laughs. "Did you forget that her dad's making her go to a summer camp for the past week?" The Boy Wonder asks, quirking an eyebrow at the speedster. Kid Flash was about to reply when they stop inside the building. The sidekicks stare in awe at the larger than life statues of their mentors as well as other members of the Justice League.

"Oh," Robin begins, "maybe that's why no one's whelmed."

The 13-year-old brunette is frowning and pacing the room. Of all the days to be stuck at a summer camp, her dad has to choose this day. She was looking forward to going to the Hall of Justice with everyone else, but of course, daddy dearest decides she has to socialize with other people her age. She's not exactly scared of talking to her peers; she does talk to Robin who is the same age as her. Sighing, she continues pacing the room like a father waiting for his wife to be done with labor. Yup, she's pretty frantic at the moment. She bets that the boys are having the time of their lives.

"Tori," a voice calls, "what's up with you?" Tori turns around to see her friend and classmate, Liz—blunt, bubbly, and optimistic.

"Nothing, I'm just…getting the jitters at the thought of performing soon," Tori lies, since she can't exactly tell Liz that she's supposed to be visiting the Hall of Justice as the sidekick of superheroine Black Canary. Nope, that probably would not go so well. Tori frowns again, pulling Liz into a hug. "Do you think I made the right choice? I mean, what if I sound like an idiot on stage?!"

Liz chuckles and pulls away from the hug, "oh my gosh, Tori, you must be kiddin'. Don't worry, you picked the perfect choice. You're gonna give a killer show, that's for sure!"

Tori nods in agreement, "right. Yes, you're right. I'm going to be just fine. Just fine-"

Both girls hear a scream in the air. Liz turns around at the sound before turning back to look at Tori, but Tori's nowhere to be found.

Tori's cursing under her breath—an influence of being near Green Arrow and Speedy—as she changes into her Null costume. As Null, Tori has a completely greyish-black body suit, black combat boots, a jacket similar to Black Canary's, and a black domino mask. Unlike Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Speedy, Null opts for a good camouflage costume that blends in with the nighttime sky. After all, most of the crimes that occur in National City tends to happen at night. The police force is good during the day since they have to protect their _precious_ celebrities.

Unfortunately, she's regretting her previous statement as she catches sight of the relatively-known villainess, Star Sapphire. This is not going to end well; Tori knows for sure. She moves behind a building to keep herself hidden. If it was an everyday thug, Tori would be able to handle that but Star Sapphire is anything but an everyday thug. She radios Batman to inform him about the situation.

"Null to Batman."

"What is it, Null?"

"Remember how trouble finds me and I swear I'm not looking for it-"

"Get to the point, Null," Batman interrupts, sounding kind of irritated. Null could only imagine one of the boys must have done something stupid and she is going to give a guess that it's the hothead, Speedy.

"Star Sapphire's robbing a museum in National City. I'm sending the coordinates to you," Null says quickly, keeping a close eye on the female star sapphire ring-user. Star Sapphire may be arrogant, but the villainess is not an idiot. Null knows that Star Sapphire will recognize her presence soon enough.

Batman pauses, "good work, Null. Now don't engage her until backup arrives."

"As long as the backup arrives early because she's going to detect me soon. Null out," she switches off the communication before Batman could continue his lecture. Null realizes that Black Canary won't be the backup since Batman didn't mention who the backup's going to be. She watches as Star Sapphire takes out a staff from the museum. Null cringes as the police cars are sent flying into a nearby building as police officers try to take cover. Great, she can't keep waiting for backup at this rate.

She puts a halt to Star Sapphire's abilities, causing the villainess to fall from the sky. Null shakes her head to remember that this is not the time to be envious of Star Sapphire's graceful landing on her own two feet. Star Sapphire smirks when Null comes into view.

"Well, if it isn't Black Canary's pipsqueak. Should the Justice League be sending _you_ to do a big girl's job?" Star Sapphire laughs.

Null narrows her eyes. She has only eight minutes to end this before she blacks out. Hopefully, Star Sapphire has been relying too much on that ring of hers and has absolutely no skills in one-on-one combat. Null returns Star Sapphire's smirk, "I don't think the Justice League has time to deal with a small fry such as yourself. What are you doing again? Robbing a museum? Yup, not a big enough problem for them. You know…big problems like dealing with Joker and Wotan and-"

Null jumps back as Star Sapphire runs towards her in an effort to land a punch. Star Sapphire looks really angry and that's what Null wants. Anger tends to cloud people's thoughts and judgments, after all. Null takes up a defensive position as Star Sapphire throws punches after punches. Null is kind of regretting her decision at the moment. Four minutes has passed and she is basically backed into a corner while blocking the attacks. What does Black Canary say all the time, Null? she asks herself. Come on, there has to be something Canary would say when fighting someone stronger than you. Oh, she smiles as a light bulb flashes in her mind, the bigger they are, the harder they fall! Thank goodness for being backed into a corner!

She waits for Star Sapphire to aim another punch at her and when the villainess does, Null drops down which makes the villainess punch the wall behind Null. Star Sapphire starts yelling curse words, but Null ignores it all and uses her leg to swipe Star Sapphire's own legs. As Star Sapphire falls forward, Null raises her knees and knocks the villainess on the jaw. The young sidekick pulls out a Taser—Batman gave it to her a few years back—and shocks Star Sapphire. Null looks at her watch to see that it took her exactly 8 minutes and she smiles as Star Sapphire falls to the floor, unconscious. Before Null loses her consciousness, she sees the familiar green light of Green Lantern.

"Huh. Good job, kid," a voice says.

In the meantime, Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Superboy are running away from Dr. Desmond. The four of them are in the real Cadmus. Basically, Cadmus is a research facility with a hidden underground lab that seems to be building a genetic army of genomorphs—with powers such as telepathy, telekinesis, super strength, and etc. Superboy, a creation and a genomorph of Cadmus by using Superman's DNA, is leading the way before all four of them stop right at a dead end.

"Great directions, Supey. You trying to get us re-podded?" Kid Flash asks, hands on his hips.

"No," Superboy looks in disbelief, "I don't understand."

Robin grins, "Don't apologize. This is perfect!" The Boy Wonder gestures at the air vents.

"Great! We have to get out of here before the entire Justice League have our heads," Kid Flash comments.

Aqualad and Robin exchange looks. "I'm more concerned about our friend, Null, finding out," Aqualad replies, making Superboy wonder who this Null person is that could cause his current companions to be worried.

Null blinks her eyes, seeing that the sun has set and the city is plunged in semi-darkness. She notices the green light surrounding her in a bubble. She sits up to see Hal Jordan looking at her. Then, she remembers what happened before she passed out. She looks around, seeing if Star Sapphire is there. Hal Jordan laughs.

"Don't worry, kid. You knocked Star Sapphire out," Hal comments, looking impressed.

Null turns pink, mumbling incoherently under her breath, "yeah, but…Batman's going to have my head for this."

Hal laughs, "Maybe. But, I'll vouch for you just this once."

Null smiles at Hal, realizing that the Green Lantern being on her side is one of the greatest things to happen to her. Null and Hal continue talking about the Justice League members, joking about how serious Batman is and how Wonder Woman could never catch any of Hal's not-so-subtle flirts at her. Oh well, it's Wonder Woman's loss. Hal drops Null at the Hall of Justice and disappears to join the other Justice League members on their mission. Null goes into the Hall of Justice, expecting to find her fellow sidekicks around since Batman did tell them to stay behind.

"Robin? Aqualad? Kid Flash?! Speedy?!" Null looks around the room and frowns, "I can't believe they left." Her right eye twitches and she's gritting her teeth. She clenches her fists together, "they should have asked me before they left! I would have totally gone along too. Fine, let's see where they are."

Null makes her way to the computer and starts typing on it. The great thing about spending a lot of time with Robin is that you pick up on some of his hacking skills. Well, actually, it's more like she made Robin teach her so, of course, she's not as good nor as fast as the Boy Wonder, but she can still crack the system to find out what she wants. She taps her fingers on the keyboard until the word CADMUS appears on the screen. She hopes the boys are okay and hurries out to the coordinates locked into her watch. She taps on her communication device, taking a deep breath to avoid sounding shaky.

"Null to Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Speedy," her voice rings clearly into the communication transmitters that Robin, Aqualad, and Kid Flash are wearing. She takes another deep breath, "where the hell are you guys?! No, don't answer that because I know! What were you thinking?! Do you know the whole cavalry, _including your mentors_ , will be there soon?"

The boys cringe at the high-pitched shriek coming from their usually passive friend. Kid Flash gestures at Robin to respond, whispering that Null is less likely to murder Robin out of all of them since they are the same age. Apparently, Superboy can hear the girl's voice too with his super hearing capabilities, because he snaps his attention to Robin before getting punched by Dr. Desmond-turned-Blockbuster.

"Oh, hey, Null," Robin tries to play it off while gesturing at Kid Flash to head over to him.

"Don't just hey, Null me! I'm so freakin' worried! Are all of you fine? Please tell me you're fine."

" _Not_ a good time to talk now, Null," Robin says, "KF, get over here!"

Null hears the sound of stones being crushed before the communication disappears. The girl clenches her fists together and runs faster to Cadmus. There is no way she's going to be too late. She reaches the Cadmus building in time to see it collapse. She runs, looking around for signs of the boys. She hears the rubble of some rocks before seeing a hand pushing a slab of concrete off. A boy who resembles Superman and dressed in all white stands up before she catches sight of the three familiar sidekicks.

"We…we did it," Aqualad states, turning to look at Robin and Kid Flash.

Robin smiles, "was there ever any doubt?" Robin and Kid Flash high five before wincing in pain.

"See," Kid Flash starts, smiling, "the moon."

Then they see the familiar female sidekick running up to them and throwing her arms around Robin, tears streaming down her face. Robin winces from the sheer strength of the girl's hug. He rubs the back of her head, hoping to calm her down as she buries her face in the crook of his neck. Kid Flash grins at the girl.

"Hey, so no hugs for me, beautiful?"

Null looks up, her eyes red and puffy from crying. She releases Robin from her death grip and turns her attention to hugging Kid Flash. Aqualad walks over and pets her on the head while Robin explains to Superboy who Null is. Null releases Kid Flash from her hug and wipes her tears away before giving Superboy a kind smile.

"Hi… Superboy, right? You kind of look like him, you know. Superman, I mean. As Robin said, I'm Null. It's a pleasure to meet you, but I wished you hadn't seen me bawling my eyes out. Those idiots!" she glares at the other three sidekicks.

Superboy nods his head, not really knowing how to react to the new arrival. Looking at Null's bright smile, despite her tear-stained face, causes Superboy to give her a small smile in return. Null raises her hand to offer Superboy a handshake, and the clone looks at it in confusion. Robin remedies it by raising Superboy's hand and showing him how it's done.

"Oh, and Superman," Kid Flash says, interrupting the moment "do we keep our promises or what?" All five teenagers turn their attention to the moon as Superman starts to land on the ground.

It's an impressive sight to see the Justice League appearing with most of the members. Superman, Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Captain Marvel, Zatara, Batman, Red Tornado, Green Lantern Hal Jordan, Green Lantern John Stewart, to name a few. Batman and The Flash steps forward along with Superman. Superboy walks in front and shows Superman the S insignia on his mostly-destroyed clothes. Null frowns, noticing the disgusted look on Superman's face. She wants to hold Superboy's hand to show him that she's supporting him despite Superman being a jerk.

"Is that what I think it is?" Batman asks.

"He doesn't like being called it," Kid Flash interjects, glancing worriedly at Superboy's expression.

Superboy looks upset, "I am Superman's clone."

"Start talking, "Batman commands, giving a stern look. Kid Flash, Robin, and Aqualad did most of the explanations. Hal Jordan winks at Null with his index finger on his lips. Null smiles in return, thankful that the Green Lantern isn't going to tell Batman about her not following his orders. She didn't want to have to deal with his lecture after seeing his annoyance grow from 100% to 200% as the boys explain their tale. Superboy stands at the side with his arms crossed. Two of the Green Lantern soldiers: Hal Jordan and John Stewart, Captain Atom, Hawkman, and Hawkwoman are chosen to escort Blockbuster to prison or some kind of holding cell. Most of the other Justice League members left as well.

"So, Null, what's up with you always going in this order?" Robin asks, noticing that Null started cleaning their wounds while the boys explained their situation.

"Well, if you think about it, KF's the most reckless one so I figured he would get the most injuries. Then, I'll patch up your wounds cause you're the youngest, yes, I know that I am too, Robin. Anyway, Aqualad has some tough Atlantean skin so I'm not worried. And, Superboy should be in a pretty good shape with his Kryptonian abilities," she replies, looking up from where she is wrapping one of Robin's wounds with a bandage after cleaning it.

Superman approaches them, but he seems reluctant to do so. Null wraps her fingers around Superboy's wrist and gives him a smile of encouragement. The other sidekicks give him a nod to show that they're there for him.

"We'll, uh, figure something out for you. The League. For now, I better make sure they get that Blockbuster creature squared away," Superman speaks to Superboy before flying away. Null can tell that the Man of Steel is not interested in having Superboy around him.

"Cadmus will be investigated, all 52 levels, but let's make one thing clear," Batman says, stopping right in front of them.

"You should have called," Flash interrupts, looking hurt.

"End results aside, we are not happy. You hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed direct orders, and endangered lives. You will not be doing this again," Batman lectures, and Null still feels the hurt and guilt bubbling up inside of her despite the fact that he is not directing it to her. Batman has a way of talking to people, and Null doesn't necessarily hate it but she definitely does not like it.

"I am sorry, but we will," Aqualad interjects.

"Aqualad, stand down," The King of Atlantis commands, swiftly hiding his surprise at his own student's actions.

"Apologies, my king, but no," Aqualad says, as Aquaman quirks an eyebrow. "We did good work here tonight, the work you trained us to do. Together on our own, we forged something powerful, important."

"If this is about your treatment at the hall. The 3 of you-

"I think they're ready to be a team—all four of them," Null interrupts, her hands still wiping alcohol onto some of Aqualad's scratch wounds.

"And it's not," Kid Flash continues, looking straight at his uncle/mentor's eyes.

"Batman," Robin starts, "we're ready to use what you taught us, or why teach us at all?"

Null looks at Robin, knowing how hard it is for him to stand up to Batman. Batman isn't just Robin's mentor. He is Robin's father figure and Null understands the extent of love the Boy Wonder has for the crime fighter of Gotham City. She moves closer to Robin and grabs his hand, giving him a small smile of encouragement. He returns the smile before turning his attention to his mentor.

"Why let them tell us what to do? It's simple. Get on board or get out of the way," Superboy states.

 **Mount Justice**

 **July 8, 08:04 EDT**

"This cave is the secret sanctuary of the Justice League. We're calling it into service again since you four are determined to stay together and fight the good fight, you'll do it on League terms. Red Tornado volunteered to live here and be your supervisor. Black Canary's in charge of training. I will deploy you on missions," Batman clarifies.

"Real missions?" Robin asks, still reeling from the fact that the League did not trust them in the first place.

"Yes, but covert. The League will still handle the obvious stuff."

"There's a reason we have these big targets on our chests," The Flash replies with a grin, pointing at his own 'flash' symbol on his costume.

"But Cadmus proves the bad guys are getting smarter. Batman needs a team that can operate on the sly," Aquaman explains.

"The 6 of you will be that team," Batman adds.

"Cool! Wait, 6?" Robin asks. Batman gestures behind them, and they turn around to see a female Martian walking with Martian Manhunter. The female Martian has ginger-like hair that frames her face.

"This is the Martian Manhunter's niece, Miss Martian."

"Hi," the female Martian says, nervousness creeping into her voice.

"Liking this gig more every minute," Kid Flash whispers to Robin before grinning at the Martian, "welcome aboard. I'm Kid Flash. That's Robin, Aqualad. It's cool if you forget their names." Kid Flash, Robin, and Aqualad walks over to meet their new teammate.

"I'm honored to be included," Miss Martian says, smiling.

"Hey, Superboy. Come meet Miss M," Robin gestures with his hand. Superboy uncrosses his arms and walk over to the small group, looking a little uncomfortable and awkward in the social setting.

"I like your t-shirt," Miss Martian compliments Superboy with a shy smile. Superboy gives her a small smile while Robin nudges the older teen and Kid Flash places his arm on Superboy's shoulders.

"Today is the day," Aqualad declares, sharing a smile with Robin.

Null grins as she walks into the room, "today is the day."

"Null, you're the sixth teammate?" Kid Flash asks, waving at her to go over to them. Null nods her head as she makes her way over. "Yup, I'm liking this gig more every minute!"

"You're Miss Martian?" Null asks, giving Miss Martian a blank stare. The boys are staring at both girls, wondering what on earth is going on with Null's attitude.

"Y-yeah, and you must be Null," Miss Martian answers, fidgeting a little under Null's intense stare. Then, Null breaks into a bright smile.

"Great! I've always wanted another girl to hang out with. Hey, Miss Martian, do you like baking? Because I love baking and I'll totally teach you some of my recipes. Well, they're not really my recipes but, still, close enough," Null bombards the older girl with questions as she links her arms with Miss Martian and starts leading her away from the boys. The boys just stare at the girls as they walk away, laughing at something Null said.

* * *

So, thanks for reading 'till the end! I would really appreciate some feedback with this story/chapter :) For example, are you guys okay with the present tense? I feel like it's the way I should take the story because... well, it's a gut feeling technically. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Feel free to let me know what you think or if you have any questions for me about the story/plot and the decisions I made so far! Enjoy your day/evening/night!


	3. RedTwister?

Hey there, dear readers! It's Written-Ideas1 again, back with another chapter of "Nullifying Trouble". Welcome to newcomers and welcome back to people who have followed and favorite my story! Thanks for taking the time to click on this story! I believe I didn't mention this last week, but I'll do my best to upload a chapter every week. If I don't, it means I have way too much going on and will try to upload within 2-3 weeks. I will do my best to keep to my schedule though!

As usual, I would love to give a shout-out to those who followed and favorite the story, you guys give me the encouragement and inspiration to keep writing despite the crazy college semester I've got going on!

So, special thanks to: **Badwolf432,** **doggy bye** , **Sit Back and Live Life** (love your name by the way!), **AFineMess101** , **gossamermouse101** , **CrazyAwesomeZebra** , **FairyNinja** , **yuki420** , **iluvLupin01** , and **GraceHeart27**!

Thanks as well to those who reviewed:

 ** **Down2earth360** : **Thank you so much for your constant kind comments! Yup, that's definitely true that I should keep it to my expectations, but I am infinitely glad that I'm blowing yours away! :)

 **MoustachedCat** : Hey MoustachedCat, I am so thankful for your comments and encouragement! Yup, I've decided to stick with this pairing because I feel like I really love the way that Null will grow throughout this. Thanks again for sticking up for Null x Robin pairing! Haha, I definitely wanted to showcase more of Null's personality, abilities, and more relationships in her life. After all, we are all such complex people with so many layers and hopefully, Null is portrayed that way. Thanks for the feedback on the present tense!

 **Abby** : No worries about it at all! I appreciate any of the comments that people have for me, and I hope to keep improving myself. In fact, yours and a few others' comments on the Robin x OC pairing sparked a new idea in my head. I'm going to be proud to announce a new story soon with Kaldur x OC in mind. The OC for this story is really different from Null though. I'm glad you're digging Null! :) I hope you'll continue to read this story, and maybe give that new story a chance once I finally sit my butt down to write it.

 **Guest** : Thank you so much, Guest! I'm glad you like the pairing because I love this pairing!

 **Dick Grayson Fan** : Hmm, I get where you're coming from and I do have my plans for where this is going. I have to admit that Robin may be OOC at certain parts, but in my mind, I'm playing off on the fact that he's still 13 and cheeky. I'll do my best to live up to the correct ideal of Robin though! Also, Null is her own character, in my own opinion, and she will continue to grow. You will see more of her inner workings in this chapter and this will definitely play out on her character as well as her relationships soon.

 **gossamermouse101** : Me too! I'm glad you like Null :)

 **AFineMess101** : Thank you! Here's the new update and I hope you'll enjoy this :)

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my OC, Victoria Adams and her family.

Just a warning though, I'll be keeping true (kind of) with the episodes for this chapter and the following chapter, and I hope this won't be too boring or repetitive for any of you.

Now, on to the story!

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Red...Twister?**

As a student of National Academy for the Young Performers, Tori has to do her best to maintain her grades as well as her extracurricular activities. Thankfully, it's still summer break and the only thing she and her classmates have to do is work on their music or acting or whatever performing arts they are pursuing. She smiles as her classmates walk by her. Several of them wave at the brunette, wishing her to have a great day. Yup, that's what she wants in life: to have a great day every day. The girl stuffs her music score sheets into her bag and slings said bag over her shoulder. She puts on her pair of sunglasses and a baseball cap.

Time to get to work, Tori thinks to herself.

And she does not mean her sidekick… no, wait, superhero now, gig. She runs off to the bookstore by her house. As she pushes the door open, the bell on top of the door chimes, signaling her entrance. A kindly old man pokes his head out from one of the bookshelves and smiles at her.

"Ah, Victoria, I'm glad you're here now! Would you mind helping me arrange the new shipment of books that came in today?" he asks, gesturing at the box of books lying by the cashier counter. It's a small quaint bookstore that does relatively well with several bookshelves arranged neatly by sections. She knows her boss tries his best to keep up with the reading trends of the time and right now, it seems that there's been a lot of vampire romance books. Tori could see the appeal of being in love and being in love with someone who does everything just to be with you, but she still doesn't like the idea of sucking blood to survive. She shivers at that thought before turning her attention to the box of books.

Tori grins, "of course, Mr. Winters! Are the new books any good?"

Mr. Winters chuckles from where he's standing and Tori could tell that he's scratching the back of his neck. "Well, I hope they are. I tell you what, if you found something you like in that pile, you can keep it."

"No! Mr. Winters, there's no way I can-"

"Consider it a reward for all of your hard work for the past month," he replies, the tone of his voice suggests that Tori won't be able to change his mind.

Tori shakes her head and smiles, "thank you, sir."

She starts arranging the books in the order of its category when a book falls to the ground. She picks it up and stares at the cover, feeling a certain pull towards it. The title reads, _Fairy Tales: Reimagined_ , and it's by Larry Zane. It seems to be a retelling of fairy tales, but in a world where the characters live in the same world. Taking Mr. Winters' command in mind, she tucks the book into her bag and continues rearranging the other new books. She tries not to wince at the number of new vampire books. If the number of vampire books represent the number of actual vampires (she's still not sure if there really are vampires) in the world, Tori would try to escape to an alternate universe if there's such a thing.

After arranging the new books, she ends up working for a couple more hours at the shop. She's grinning by the time she's done with work. After all, she manages to help several people find some great books. The girl makes her way home and wonders about how life is rapidly changing. She's joined a new team a few days ago, but with work and her extracurricular practice, she hasn't found the time to visit everyone else in the Cave. Then again, it sounds like Batman has not given them a mission yet. She receives a text from Robin and smiles. The Boy Wonder is starting to get really impatient with Batman and Red Tornado from the sound of it.

She notices the bright moon as she walks on the pavement by the beach. She clicks the 'call' button on her phone, hearing it ring a couple of times before Robin picks up. "Hey, Boy Wonder, how's it going?"

"What do you think, genius? I'm bored with all this waiting! Batman promised to give us real missions-"

"And he will," Tori interrupts, "I know you're upset, and I would love to tell you to cry it out cause that's my solution but you probably won't. How bout this, I'm coming over to the Cave tomorrow and we'll pester Red Tornado for a mission together?"

"Yes! Another person to join our dark side! KF's going to be feeling the aster!"

"Don't tell me, I'm just going to assume you created a new word again. Good night, Dick, and stay safe during patrols!" Tori hangs up on the call before Robin can explain his new word to her. She smiles, that is so going to annoy the Boy Wonder tonight.

Mount Justice

July 18, 11:16 EDT

Recognized Robin—B01, Kid Flash—B03, Null—B04.

Robin and Kid Flash make their way over to Kaldur and the others as Null gives a small wave while taking a slow walk over. Null was listening to Robin and Kid Flash complain about Speedy, and she knows a mission would definitely cheer them up. Apparently, Aqualad, Robin, and Kid Flash traveled to Star City to convince Speedy to join the team, but the new solo superhero didn't want to join a clubhouse for sidekicks. Null expected as much since she knows what Speedy is like after years of teaming up with him and Green Arrow. Now, crossing her fingers, she hopes that they get a mission for the boys' sakes of improving their moods.

"Did you ask him?" Robin asks.

"What did he say?" Kid Flash continues without even waiting for a reply.

"He's arriving right now," Aqualad replies.

"Then, what are we waiting for?" Kid Flash rushes off with Robin right behind him. Aqualad follows them, while the three remaining members exchange looks before following their overeager teammates. Once outside the Cave, Kid Flash waves his arm at Red Tornado, "Red Tornado!"

"Greetings," the robot starts as he lands on the ground, "is there a reason you intercept me outside the cave?"

"We hoped you had a mission for us," Aqualad states, while everyone looks hopeful.

"Mission assignments are the Batman's responsibility."

"But it's been over a week, and nothing—" Robin looks ready to argue.

"You'll be tested soon enough. For the time being, simply enjoy each other's company."

"This team is not a social club," Aqualad must still be upset with what Speedy said to them.

"No, but I am told social interaction is an important team-building exercise. Perhaps you can keep busy by familiarizing yourself with the Cave," Red Tornado walks away from them.

"Keep busy," Kid Flash sounds annoyed, lightly smacking Robin.

"Does he think we're falling for this?"

"Oh, I'll find out," Miss Martian says, looking excited. She tries to read the robot's mind. "I'm sorry. I forgot he's a machine, inorganic. I cannot read his mind."

"Nice try, though," Null compliments Miss Martian, still wondering the extent of the Martian's telepathic abilities.

"So, uh, you know what I'm thinking right now?"Kid Flash asks, getting closer to Miss Martian.

"We all know what you're thinking now," Robin smirks. Null grins, giving a thumbs up to agree with Robin. Kid Flash looks sheepish with a slight tint of pink forming on his cheeks.

"And now we tour the clubhouse," Aqualad sighs out.

"Well, Superboy and I live here. We can play tour guides," Miss Martian tries to decrease the tension.

"Don't look at me," Superboy interjects as Kid Flash turns to look at the clone.

"We won't," Kid Flash replies turning to look at Miss Martian, "A private tour sounds much more fun."

"She never said private, Wally," Null says with her hands on her hips.

"Team building. We'll all go," Aqualad still looking upset. Null reaches over and pats the older boy on the shoulder and gives him a small smile. Aqualad returns the smile. Robin punches Kid Flash on the arm as Miss Martian begins the tour, while Null dozes off to thinking about patrolling National City on her own from now on. Usually, she would listen to the radio while reading or practicing her music or studying and when something comes up, she'll head over to see if help is needed. Unlike Gotham City, Star City, Central City, and basically everywhere else, National City has good security and most villains wouldn't waste their time on attacking National City. However, Null's been noticing an increase in criminal activity and she's getting pretty worried. The League doesn't seem to have a superhero on duty for her city, and she's not about to leave the city without protection. Batman would be furious with her if he found out though. She doesn't even want to think about what Black Canary would do to her if her superheroine mentor finds out about this. She bumps into Superboy's back and the boy turns to look at her.

"Oops, sorry there, big guy. Was lost in my thoughts," Null apologizes and tries to focus on the conversation happening around her. She doesn't notice the worried looks that her close friends are sending her way. Robin nudges Kid Flash to start talking and get Null back into the conversation.

"The cave is actually the entire mountain. It was hollowed out and reinforced by Superman and Green Lantern in the early days of the League," Kid Flash explains.

"And that Green Lantern's name is Hal Jordan. Remember he doesn't like being just called Green Lantern when there's another GL on the League?" Null interrupts, smirking at Kid Flash. Kid Flash scratches the back of his neck, looking sheepish.

"Then why abandon it for the Hall of Justice?" Superboy asks.

"The cave's secret location was compromised," Aqualad explains.

"So they traded it in for a tourist trap? Yeah, that _makes_ sense," Superboy replies. Null grins, realizing that Superboy's sense of sarcasm is just what the team needs to balance out KF's and Robin's own brand of sarcasm.

"If villains know of the cave, we must be on constant alert," Miss Martian says, looking worried and determined at the same time.

"The bad guys know we know they know about the place. So they'd never think to look here," Robin says, holding the Martian's hand. Null giggles at his attempt to sound cool.

"Uh, he means we're hiding in plain sight," she explains to Miss Martian while separating Robin's hands from their teammate. Robin glares at Null who shrugs in return.

"Ah," Miss Martian begins while giving the younger female a grateful smile, "that's much clearer."

"I smell smoke," Superboy interrupts, smelling the air with his super senses.

"My cookies!" Miss Martian exclaims while flying to the kitchen as the rest of the team follow the panicked Martian. "I was trying out Grammy Jones recipe from episode 17 of—heh, never mind."

"Ooh!" Null says, grabbing hold of Miss Martian's hands, "are you talking about the butter cookies with white chocolate flakes in them? Those are so good! We'll have to make them together some time, Miss M," the younger girl declares.

"I bet they'd have tasted great," Robin tries to comfort the distraught baker. He gestures at Kid Flash, "he doesn't seem to mind."

"I have a serious metabolism," Kid Flash blushes from where he's stuffing his mouth.

"I'll," Miss Martian pauses when she sees Null's very sharp smile, "we'll make more?"

"It was sweet of you to make any," Aqualad smiles.

"Thanks, Aqualad."

"We're off duty. Call me Kaldur'ahm. Actually, my friends call me Kaldur."

Null grins, "and I'm Tori Adams, at your service. Well, kind of."

"I'm Wally. See? I already trust you with my secret I.D.," Kid Flash announces, while gesturing at Robin, "unlike Mr. Dark Glasses over here. Batman's forbidden Boy Wonder from telling anyone his real name." Robin crosses his arms together and glares at the older, red-haired teen.

"Mine's no secret. It's M'gann M'orzz. Like, you can call me Megan. It's an Earth name, and I'm on Earth now." Miss Martian notices Superboy walking away and assumes he's upset. " _Don't worry, Superboy. We'll find you an earth name_ ," she speaks to him telepathically.

"Get out of my head!" Superboy yells.

" _What's wrong? I don't understand. Everyone on Mars communicates telepathically_ ," Megan responds into their minds.

"M'gann, stop. Things are different on Earth. Here, your powers are an extreme invasion of privacy," Kaldur forces the words out as he, Robin, and Wally clutch their head and winces. Null stares at them in confusion, not knowing what's going on. She looks at Robin for answers.

"Megan's using her telepathy to communicate with us," he explains and Null purses her lips together. It would seem that Megan's telepathy did not go through to her and she wonders if her mind's protected from telepathy through her nullifying power. If that's the case, she has to be doing it automatically and she wants to know how to shut it off.

"Besides, Cadmus' creepy little psychic genomes left a bad taste in his brain," the speedster explains.

"I-I didn't mean to-"

"Just stay out," Superboy says with a glare before walking off. Null nods at Kaldur before following Superboy out to talk to the moody teen. "Why are you following me?" he asks with anger still evident in his voice. If he thinks that that would scare Null away, he's sorely mistaken. Superboy sits on the couch and Null takes a seat next to him. She places her hand on his shoulder and smiles.

"Look, I don't know what it's like to have to deal with telepathy and psychic conversations, but I know Megan doesn't mean any harm and I know you're more upset at yourself for overreacting," she quirks an eyebrow at the older teen's glaring, "and to be honest, Superboy, all you have to do is say sorry." She squeezes his shoulder, "trust me on this."

"Null, come on, let's go," Robin says to her as the others follow Miss Martian. She grins at Robin, standing up to follow the Boy Wonder. She nudges Superboy to come along and the older teen begrudgingly follows the other two teammates of his. "How's National City, Null? Batman's been telling me about the increased crime rates, "Robin asks, giving her a side glance.

"Yeah, it's been increasing, but don't you worry your little bird brain over it," Null teases, linking her arms with her close friend. They stop in front of a round-shape UFO-like ship.

"Cute," Wally compliments, but Null knows that Wally does not trust the Martian's spaceship. She stops herself from chuckling as Robin gives her a pointed look. Kid Flash continues to say, "not aerodynamic, but cute."

"It's at rest, silly. I'll wake it," Miss Martian says as the ship changes its shape. Null jumps back, unable to wrap her mind on the fact that ships can magically change shapes. Miss Martian turns to look at everyone, "well, are you coming?"Null follows everyone else into the bioship, looking around to make sure that she's not about to fall to her death.

"Strap in for launch," Miss Martian tells them as chairs form from nothing, basically, and Null hesitantly takes a seat in front of Miss Martian, behind and in between Kaldur and Superboy.

"Whoa," Robin steals the words right from Null's mouth as they are automatically strapped into their seats.

"Cool," Wally says, looking in awe at the bioship.

"Red Tornado, please open the bay doors," Miss Martian tells the android and soon, the team is in the air for a smooth journey.

"Incredible."

"She sure is. I-I mean the ship. Which, like all ships, is a she," Kid Flash explains.

"Fast with his feet," Null begins, turning around to give Robin a grin.

"Not so much with his mouth," Robin finishes, returning the grin.

"Dudes!"

"So, Kaldur," Null begins, "how's Aquaman? It's been a while since I've seen him."

"My king has been doing well. Although, he mentions that he does not have any use for hair conditioners and has asked me to return them to you," her friend replies, looking amused.

"He has such beautiful hair, Kaldur! He has to take care of it, ya know?" Null protests, thinking that she's going to keep trying to convince the King of Atlantis to be the face of Dove or something.

"Hey, how 'bout showing us a little Martian shape-shifting?" Robin interrupts, looking at the Martian. Miss Martian nods, stands up, and shape-shifts into a female version of Robin and Kid Flash before turning back to normal.

"Is it wrong that I think I'm hot?"

Null raises her eyebrow, "yes, Wally, it is."

Robin claps his hands, "impressive. But you know you're not exactly gonna fool anyone with those."

"Mimicking boys is a lot harder."

"Oh, trust me, I know how hard it is," Null supplies.

"And your clothes?"

"They're organic, like the ship. They respond to my mental commands."

"As long as they're the only ones," Superboy responds, sounding bitter. Null glares at Superboy, who looks away from her. Honestly, Miss Martian is doing her best to fit into the team and Superboy is not helping one bit.

"Can you do that ghosting through walls thing that Manhunter does?" Kid Flash asks in an attempt to dispel the sudden awkwardness.

"Density shifting? No. I-it's a very advanced technique."

"Flash can vibrate his molecules right through a wall. When he tries it, bloody nose."

"Dude!"

"Here's something I can do," Miss Martian says, suddenly disappearing from view, "camouflage mode."

Null forces a smile, thinking that Miss Martian really has an amazing array of superpowers. She catches Robin's stare, and her smile becomes more genuine. Looking at Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad, she realizes that she's pretty darn lucky for being in a team with her closest friends. She looks at Miss Martian again, and forces the little seed of uncertainty from her mind.

"Red Tornado to Miss Martian," the android's voice fills the bioship, "an emergency alert has been triggered at the Happy Harbor power plant. I suggest you investigate covertly. I'm sending coordinates."

"Received. Adjusting course," Megan replies an affirmative.

"Tornado's keeping us busy again."

"Well, a simple fire led you to Superboy. We should find out what caused the alert."

"I think I know the cause," Superboy looks out the window at the tornado.

"Null!" Robin shouts.

"I'm on it!" Null replies, focusing on releasing her energy to nullify the tornado. The tornado disappears and they land safely on the ground. They get out of the bioship and focus their attention to the power plant.

"Robin, are tornadoes common to New England? Robin? Null?"

"They were just here." The team runs into the power plant to see Robin getting up from the floor. Null appears right beside them in full costume, glaring at the red villain in front of them. The team glances at her but doesn't bother making any comments at the moment.

"Who's your new friend?" Superboy asks, landing right beside Robin.

"Didn't catch his name, but he plays kind of rough!"

"My apologies. You may address me as Mr. Twister." Superboy rushes to attack the red android villain but is blown back by swirling wind. Wally pulls out his goggles and wears them. Robin stands up, clutching his side. Kaldur, Miss Martian, and Wally share a glance, silently agreeing to attack. Null looks at Robin, trying not to look too worried. She turns her attention back to Mr. Twister and knows that timing is key in this battle. Wally, Kaldur, Miss Martian, and Null charge at Mr. Twister, and when Wally tries to land a kick on the android, he's blown away.

"Wally!" Null screams, regretting that she couldn't use her power in time. She glares at the robot and promises to pick up the slack. She nullifies his wind and tries to land a kick when the robot grabs her ankle and throws her across the room. Kaldur and Miss Martian come up from behind only to get blown across the room as well. Robin glares at Mr. Twister.

"I was prepared to be challenged by a superhero. I was not, however, expecting children,"Mister Twister taunts.

Robin throws a couple of bombs at the villain, "we're not children!"

"Objectively, you are. Have you no adult supervision? I find your presence here quite disturbing."

"Well, we hate to see you disturbed. Let's see if you're more turbed once we kick your can," Robin announces as Superboy rushes to land a punch but the winds blow him back, sending him and Miss Martian to the floor since the Martian couldn't get out of the way in time. Kaldur and Robin rushes to attack, only to be colliding into each other.

"Indeed. That was quite turbing. Thank you," Mr. Twister starts to fly away, as Null groggily gets up from where she is. Null and her teammates make their way outside to see Mr. Twister attacking Wally.

"I got you, Wally," Miss Martian says, using her telekinesis to keep Wally from falling.

"Thanks."

"I would have thought you had all learned your limitations by now," Mr. Twister comments, flying higher in the air.

"What do you want?!" Kaldur demands to know.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm waiting for a real hero."

"Read his mind. Find a weakness," Kaldur orders Miss Martian.

"I thought I wasn't supposed to do that."

"It's okay with the bad guys!" Robin sounds exasperated.

"Nothing. I'm getting nothing. Hello Megan! Mr. Twister is Red Tornado in disguise! He's inorganic, an android. And how many androids do you know that can generate tornados?" Miss Martian says, but Null can't seem to believe it. Red Tornado and Mr. Twister don't sound like the same person at all. At the very least, Red Tornado does not annoy Null as much as this Mr. Twister in front of her now.

"Red Tornado sent us here," Kaldur exclaims in realization.

"After saying we'd be tested soon enough. This is his test, something to keep us busy," Robin says.

"Speedy called it. We're a joke," Wally says, as the three of them walk towards Mr. Twister to confront the villain.

"No, guys, wait just a minute," Null protests, "I don't think that's-"

"This game, so over," Kid Flash continues.

"We know who you are and what you want," Robin yells at Mr. Twister.

"So let's end this."

"Consider it ended,"Mister Twister agrees as dark clouds and lightning form in the sky above the android.

"An impressive show. But we will not indulge you. We will not engage," Kaldur lets the villain know as more dark clouds form above with lightning zapping at several spots.

"Uh, can Red Tornado do that?" Kid Flash asks.

"You think I'm Tornado? Ironic." Mr. Twister says as he aims to fire at them. Null runs ahead, pushing past the boys, and uses her abilities to negate as much of the lightning as possible. Everyone else lands on the ground, looking unconscious from the blast. Null knows that she didn't manage to nullify everything. Superboy leaps into the air to punch Mr. Twister only to be blasted into the ground. Null stands right in front of her team, holding her ground. "What a brave little girl. But what can you do? You're the weakest. You couldn't even protect your little friends," Mr. Twister taunts her.

He throws one blast after another and she focuses on nullifying each of the blasts as Mr. Twister flies closer to them. Miss Martian starts to get up, but Null has no time to spare her a glance. "Stay down, Megan," Null says through gritted teeth, "I'll handle this somehow." She hates being called weak, and she hates it when people points it out to her. She glares at the red villain. Her eyes start to glow white as she sends a blast of energy to Mr. Twister, causing his entire system to shut down for a few seconds. She's about to run ahead to kick the villain when her head bumps into something. She rubs her forehead which is starting to bruise as Mr. Twister regains his powers again.

"Fine, then. I won't deny you children have power. But playing hide-and-seek with you would not help me achieve my objectives. So stay concealed. If you confront me again, I will show no mercy," Mr. Twister states while flying away.

"What happened?" Null asks, wincing. Everyone else is starting to get up.

"I placed the bioship between us," Miss Martian explains. Null continues rubbing her forehead. Robin places his cold hand on her forehead and she leans into it. Well, that's the best kind of ice pack she'll ever get around here. Unless Miss Martian has a freezer in the bioship.

"And that's supposed to make it right? You tricked us into thinking Twister was Red Tornado!" Superboy shouts after punching a couple of rocks.

"She didn't do it on purpose," Kaldur says to defend the Martian.

"It was a rookie mistake. We shouldn't have listened," Robin agrees, removing his hand away from Null's forehead. Null frowns, but decides to act as professionally as she could.

"You are pretty inexperienced. Hit the showers. We'll take it from here," Kid Flash continues, looking sorry for the Martian.

"Stay out of our way," Superboy glares once more before running off in Mr. Twister's direction. Kid Flash follows and Robin is right behind him. Robin turns back to look at Null.

"Come on, Null, we gotta move!"

The brunette nods her head, "yeah, I'll be there in a sec!" Null turns her attention to Kaldur and Miss Martian.

"I was just trying to be part of the team," Megan says, looking dejected.

"To be honest, I'm not sure we really have a team," Kaldur replies, before running off as well. Null kneels down beside Miss Martian, trying to smile at the older female. Without warning, she pulls Megan into a hug and rubs the older teen's back in comfort.

"Hey, don't worry about it. The boys are still not used to losing and they're just taking it out on you. Besides, if they should be mad at someone, it should be me. You heard Mr. Twister, I'm the weakest link."

"Null, they're right. I-I'm new at this and I-"

Null tightens her hug on the Martian, "look, Miss M, the way I see it, you're one awesome fighter and I love to have another girl… another _sister_ on the team. We may not be as good as the boys, but we have something they don't have. We're stubborn and we won't take no for an answer…actually, no, they have that too. We'll find something we have that they don't later. For right now, I need to catch up with them," she says while releasing the Martian from her hug. She stands up, getting ready to run when she turns around, "Oh, and Miss M, the best way to fit into this team is to hold your ground."

With those last words, Null runs into the forest to catch up with the other boys. The minute she reaches the city, she frowns.

"Certainly this will get the required attention," Mr. Twister announces.

"You got ours, full and undivided!" Wally runs up to attack Mr. Twister. Superboy tries to attack Mr. Twister only to be blown away. Kaldur and Robin tries a tag team, with Kaldur narrowly avoiding a boat coming his way. Robin keeps throwing his birdarang at the android, but to no avail. Null keeps deflecting the bursts of wind and hopes to land a hit or something.

"Immaterial and insufficient! You are a distraction I can no longer tolerate."

"You brought your utility belt?" Kid Flash asks, as Robin, Kid Flash, and Null are hiding behind a slab of stone.

"Never leave home without it. First thing Batman taught me," Robin seems proud, and Null would have given anything to have her Taser with her.

"Yeah, right after never go to the bathroom without it," Kid Flash comments, earning a glare from Robin and a laugh from Null.

" _Listen to me—all of you_ ," Megan interrupts them with telepathy. Null notices the boys wincing. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what's going on.

"I wish I could get in on the action there," Null comments, raising an eyebrow.

" _What did we tell you_?"

" _I know! And I know I messed up. But now I'm very clear on what we need to do. Please trust me_ ," Megan states, before explaining the plan to them. Robin and Kid Flash help to keep Null in the loop. All of them are standing out in the open, facing Mr. Twister when Red Tornado appears.

"Hit the showers, team. I was hoping you could handle this. Clearly you cannot," Red Tornado comments.

"But we've got a plan now!" Robin protests, trying to show that the team can still work together and defeat Mr. Twister.

"The subject is not up for debate," Red Tornado replies, turning his attention to the other wind-user android on the battlefield. The team walks away and allows Red Tornado to handle the situation.

"I was beginning to believe you'd never show up," Mr. Twister comments, sounding smug.

"I'm here now." The androids fight against one another by creating mini tornadoes one after another. "We are evenly matched, Twister."

"No, Tornado, we are not," Mr. Twister sends Red Tornado flying to the ground from an explosion. As wires come out of Mr. Twister's fingers, "Remain still, android. The reprogramming won't take long."

"Longer than you might think," Red Tornado replies as Red Tornado's head changes to Megan's. Megan grabs the wires and pulls Mr. Twister close before punching him into a twister created by Kid Flash. Then, Superboy lands several solid punches on the android. When the android lands in the water, Kaldur attacks him and sends him back in the air. Megan rips Twister's arms, and Robin throws his birdarangs at the android. All the while, Null continues to send bursts of energy at the android to keep Mister Twister from retaliating. As the android lands on the ground, a man flies out of the android.

"Foul. I-I call foul." Megan uses her telekinesis to grab a rock. Null stands to the side, looking away to avoid having anyone noticing her smile.

"M'gann, no!" Kaldur shouts, and Megan lands the rock on the man.

"Don't know how things are done on Mars, but on earth, we don't execute our captives!" Robin seems flabbergasted and angry. Null walks forward, putting a hand on Robin's arm to calm him down as he walks right in front of Megan.

"You said you trust me," Megan smirks, removing the rock to reveal the crushed robot, "that's why I couldn't read his mind."

"Cool, souvenir," Kid Flash says, grabbing an eyeball. Null rolls her eyes.

"We should have had more faith in you," Kaldur says, placing his hand on Megan's shoulder.

"Yeah. You rocked this mission. Get it? Rocked," Kid Flash grins, keeping the souvenir in his pocket.

"Ignore him. We're all just turbed you're on the team," Robin smiles.

"Thanks. Me, too."

Null winces again, a bruise forming on her forehead. Well, at least it's a good thing that Miss Martian's bioship is pretty tough. Her head just figured it out like an hour ago when she bumped right into it. Robin raises his hand and using his index finger, he pokes Null's bruise-forming forehead. She winces and glares at him. Robin shrugs before placing his cold hand on her forehead. Null sighs, refraining from leaning into her teammate's hand.

"Come on, team," Kid Flash grins, noticing the interaction between the two youngest members of the team, "let's head back to Red Tornado."

"Yes, he'll want to know about this." Kaldur agrees as Megan calls her bioship over. Null looks at the bioship, feeling a love-hate relationship forming between them. She walks beside Superboy and gives him a pointed glare.

"Fine, fine. I know already. Quit staring at me," he says after Null continues to glare at him for several seconds. She grins and gives him a light punch on the shoulder. Superboy can't help but smile at her. She's definitely a strange one.

Tori's having an icepack on her forehead as she sits at her desk with her new book open to the introduction page. _Fairy Tales: Reimagined_ seems like it's a combination of several fairy tales, but with a twist. There is a tale of a poor girl with dreams of going to the Royal Ball to meet the prince. Her fairy godmother grants her that wish and she goes to the Royal Ball. When the girl is at the ball, she meets the prince's highly-trained bodyguard, Fa Mulan. The words are starting to blur in Tori's mind as her head drops on the table, consciousness fading from her.

The door to her bedroom opens, and her dad walks into the room with a shake of his head. He notices the bruise on her forehead and sighs as he carries his little girl and places her on her bed. He pulls the blanket up and looks at her for a few minutes. Wyatt Adams is not new to what his daughter thinks she's been hiding from him. He knows that his daughter is working hard to be a superhero, and he wants to stop her from taking on such a dangerous profession.

"Oh, Janet, what am I supposed to do with our daughter?" Wyatt asks, not expecting an answer. Every time he sees his daughter, he wants to hide her in their house and keep protecting her. He's doing his best to raise her, but if only, he thinks to himself, if only his wife is still around.

"Papa…" Tori's voice reaches his ears and he smiles, "papa, love you too."

"And, I love you too, sweetheart," he plants a kiss on her forehead while avoiding the bruised area, switches the desk lamp off, and heads out of the room with a soft click of the doorknob.

* * *

Thank you for making it this far! Feel free to leave me a review and I'll get back to you on my next update... or with a new update if that's what you'll be asking for ;)


	4. Boy Wonder, Speedster or El Luchador?

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! (if you're reading it on February 14th, 2016). Anyway, I wanted to upload 2 chapters today as a gift, but my schedule didn't give me the time to do that. I wanted to write a Valentine's Day special story which, in my mind, is really funny and perhaps a little bit OOC because it's meant to be funny. However, I'm still thankful to all of you for being so supportive and understanding! (I would appreciate more reviews though :x). My list of thanking people today is much shorter, so here goes!

Special thanks to: **Pandora Merga Black** and **aireagle92**!

And a huge, big thanks to... *drum rolls please!* :

 ** **Down2earth360** : Wow, and you never cease to make me enthusiastic about writing with all of your sweet words! Thank you so much and I'll keep trying to write as well as I could :) have a great day!**

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my OC, Victoria Adams and her family.

Now, on to the story!

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Boy Wonder, Speedster... or El Luchador?**

Null frowns, wondering how on earth did they get themselves in such a mess. She has to put up with a lovesick Martian, an oblivious Kryptonian, an exasperated Atlantean, a hothead speedster, and a stubborn Boy Wonder. She rubs her temple while swinging a kick to her left, hitting a bad guy square in the gut. Superboy handles the biggest villain there, while everyone else picks up the pace. She recognizes Robin's silhouette as he drop-kicks two enemies.

"What is wrong with you guys? Remember covert? Why didn't you follow my lead, vanish into the jungle?" Robin asks. Null clenches her fist and punches another guy square in the jaw. Robin has been acting like an idiot the whole night, and she knows why. The Boy Wonder wants to be the team leader but she doesn't think the role is for him—not with the way he's been acting throughout the mission.

"That's what you were doing? Way to fill us in. We're not mind readers, you know," Kid Flash says, before seeing Miss Martian behind him, "er, I'm not anyway."

"You told me I could only read the bad guys' minds," Miss Martian complains.

Aqualad appears and takes out the last villain and everyone proceed to tie the enemy up. As they stand together staring down at the enemy, Robin comments, "I recognize those uniforms. They belong to the cult of the Kobra."

"I am certain Batman would have mentioned it if he knew a dangerous extremist was running Santa Prisca's Venom operation," Aqualad says.

"Agreed. And since there's clearly no love lost between the cultists and those goons, I'm betting Kobra came in and tossed them out. That's why normal supply lines have been cut off," Robin explains.

"We get it. Kobra wanted super cultists. Mystery solved. Radio Bats, and we'll be home in time for-" Kid Flash tries to say.

"These cultists aren't on Venom. Kobra's hoarding the stuff. We don't leave, not until I know why," Robin interrupts.

"Until _you_ know why?" Kid Flash sounds annoyed now. Null places her hand on Kid Flash's shoulder to stop calm him down. She shakes her head when the speedster turns to look at her. Kid Flash's eyes are narrowed, but noticing the tired expression that Null has, he sighs.

"This team needs a leader," Robin declares. Null slaps her forehead with her hand at this, knowing that Robin is just causing trouble within the group. Why, oh why did Batman send them on a mission when there's clearly no stability in the team right now?

"And it's you? Dude, you're a 13-year-old kid who ducked out on us without a word," Kid Flash argues.

"Haha! And you're a mature 15? You blew our cover first chance you got."

Null heaves a sigh and joins Superboy and Miss Martian standing by the sidelines. She catches their conversation without wanting to interrupt them. Null wants to push the two of them together if she gets the chance, or maybe lock them in a room together. She knows that Miss Martian has a huge crush on the Kryptonian. Unlike Robin and Kid Flash, basically everyone isn't interested in leading the team. Null turns her attention to Aqualad. She has known Aqualad for four years now and the usually-stoic, strong Atlantean seems like he would make a great leader for the team. They need someone to reel them in when they get too rowdy.

"Yeah? You don't even have super powers!"

"Neither does Batman!"

"Duh, you're not Batman."

"Closest thing we've got."

Null is about to walk up to the two boys and pull their ears when one of the bad guys interrupts them. "Such clever _ninos_. But you only know half the story. Let me show you the rest. Get you into the factory via my secret entrance."

"There is a secret entrance, but he's also hiding something," Miss Martian reads his mind. The muscular guy definitely does not look trustworthy with the black and white face paint he has going for himself.

"Ah, ah, ah, chica. Bane is not that easy."

"He's mentally reciting football scores _en espanol_. This could take a while."

"It's not complicated. The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

Everyone exchange glances, before deciding to let the prisoner lead the way to the secret entrance. On the way, they stand by a cliff and manages to see the operation going on down below. There's a large amount of boxes transporting, and if the team can guess right, the venom formula for Kobra.

"Look at all that product. A bug is going down. But if Kobra's not selling to the usual suspects, then," Robin informs the group.

"We need to identify that buyer," Aqualad continues.

"Just what I was thinking," Kid Flash agrees. Null nods her head, realizing that a fight might be on the way. She doesn't know how much help she would provide in this fight seeing as though it's not exactly up against people with superpowers. Glancing at Miss Martian, she wishes she could have telekinesis or a power that's more active. Heck, she'll even settle for Miss Martian's camouflage mode. Shaking her head, she focuses on the conversation happening around her.

"Yeah, you're the thinker."

"Sarcasm? Dude," Kid Flash frowns.

"A real leader would focus on getting answers," Robin counters Kid Flash.

Null smacks both of them on the back of their heads. They turn to her in rapid speed, clutching the back of their heads. Glaring at them, with her hands on her hips, "look, the both of you are going to stop this right now. Or _, no cookies for a week_ , do you hear me?"

"But, Null-"

"You can't do that!"

The two protests in unison, but Null just continues glaring at them. Her head is starting to hurt from all of their bickering and it doesn't help that she already has way too much to worry about: like not being as good of a fighter as Miss Martian. She glances at Miss Martian again, wanting to know if maybe the team just needed one female on the team. She shakes her head, knowing that she respects and cares for Miss Martian. Envy should not have room in her heart. At least, she smiles, the boys are not bickering for a few minutes.

"Answers are this way," Bane interrupts, looking amused with the arguing going on. He moves a stone out of the way and opens the secret entrance. The rest of the team follows behind Bane.

"So, now el luchador is our leader," Kid Flash remarks, earning him a punch on the arm from Robin and a glare from Null.

"All clear," Robin announces before disappearing on his own again.

"Has that little fool already been caught?" Bane asks, sounding exasperated.

"No, he just does that," Null says, frowning.

"Stay put. I'll get our intel and be back before the Boy Wonder." Kid Flash runs off.

"Wait, Kid!" Aqualad shouts.

"Great chain of command," Bane comments. Null turns her glare to him, daring him to say anything else. She's starting to dislike el luchador.

"It's a massive shipment," Aqualad says as Miss Martian, Aqualad, Superboy, and Null watches from behind a box.

"Yeah, but they're only taking new product off the line. They're not touching this Venom?" Superboy says, staring at the shipment.

"Maybe freshness counts?" Miss Martian asks, making Null giggle. Yup, Null thinks to herself, she's definitely losing it on this mission.

"Helicopters coming," Superboy informs them. Aqualad asks Miss Martian to go to the rendezvous point in camouflage mode to get a glimpse of the buyer. Null waits behind with Aqualad and Superboy.

" _Aqualad, sending you a telepathic image of the buyer now_ ," Miss Martian says.

"Sportmaster. He is the buyer? Aqualad to Red Tornado. Do you read? Can't reach the League, Robin, or Kid. Com's jammed. We need a plan," Aqualad says.

"No, I have a suggestion," Bane smirks as he jumps down and attacks the Kobra's henchmen. The bridge collapses, sending Aqualad, Superboy, and Null onto ground level.

"Get them!" Kobra yells the command. Null notices that Bane is gone, leaving them to face the enemy by themselves. She starts taking on some of the red-hooded blind followers of Kobra, but she has to run to take cover as guns are fired at them. Superboy is handling the bulky creature who must have taken the Blockbuster + Venom formula. She sees Kid Flash showing up to help Aqualad.

"Miss Martian, radio is jammed! Link us up!" Aqualad shouts, hoping it'll reach Miss Martian. Null tries to shut down her own nullifying abilities, hoping that she knows what she's doing. She focuses on absorbing the energy instead of releasing the energy. She closes her eyes, knowing that it's a gamble to do that in the middle of a fight, and tries to imagine this light clearing from her mind.

" _Everyone online_?" Miss Martian asks, telepathically. Null grins at hearing the voice in her head. The boys might hate having people hearing their thoughts, but Null doesn't mind. At least she won't be clueless in this fight.

" _Yeah_ ," Superboy replies reluctantly.

" _You know it, beautiful_ ," Kid Flash replies.

" _Good, we need to regroup_ ," Aqualad orders.

" _Busy now_!" Robin says.

" _Robin, now_!" Null yells in her mind.

" _Strategic retreat. Kid, clear a path,"_ Aqualad commands _._ Everyone runs to the door with Superboy right behind them. Mammoth, the guy who is deformed by being injected with the blockbuster and venom formula, is chasing them _._ Null looks behind her, wondering if she should try using her power on Mammoth. She focuses on her energy and tries to aim it at the villain when Aqualad yells, _"_ Superboy, the support beams!"

Null forgets her plan and continues running as fast as she can as rocks tumble down. The rocks successfully block them from Mammoth and the other Kobra cultists. She pants as the team all halt to a stop. She closes her eyes, trying to feel the energy within her again. Okay, she feels this warmth forming in her gut. It's an odd combination between the headache she feels and this feeling of exhilaration from the warmth in her gut.

Robin's looking away from the rest of the team. Null purses her lips and sighs, realizing that Robin really wants to be the team leader. She understands that it's really important for him, but she doesn't agree with the way he's been trying to lead them.

"How could my first mission as leader go so wrong?" Robin asks.

"You do have the most experience. Perhaps that is exactly what has left you unprepared. Fighting alongside Batman, your roles are defined. You two do not need to talk. But this team is new. And a leader must be clear, explicit. He cannot vanish and expect others to play parts in an unknown plan," Aqualad says.

"Oh, so I'm supposed to hold everyone's hands!" Robin yells, turning around. "Who am I kidding? You should lead us, Kaldur. You're the only one who can."

"Please! I can run circles-"

"Wally, come on. You know he's the one, we all do."

"Hello, Megan! It's so obvious."

"Could have told you," Superboy smirks.

"Finally!" Null exclaims, throwing her hands in the air.

"Okay," Kid Flash agrees.

Aqualad walks over to Robin and places his hand on the younger teen's shoulder, "then I accept the burden until you are ready to lift it from my shoulders. You were born to lead this team. Maybe not now, but soon," both Aqualad and Robin share a quick smile, "all right. Our first priority is preventing that shipment from leaving this island."

"Funny. I had the same thought."

"Sportsmaster's the supplier slash buyer… But it still doesn't tract. He doesn't have the juice to acquire the blockbuster formula or to get Kobra to do his dirty work," Robin says, as the team runs through the tunnel.

"And neither of them have the chops to bond blockbuster with Venom. That took some major nerdage," Kid Flash agrees.

"I believe the expression is tip of the iceberg," Aqualad comments.

"Halt, ninos. I'm feeling explosive," Bane states as he appears at the exit of the tunnel with a smirk on his face.

" _Kid, you'll need a running start,"_ Aqualad tells Kid Flash telepathically, before pretending that he's surprised. "You betrayed us. Why?"

"I want my factory back. So I forced you into a situation where you would either take down my enemies or die trying. If the latter, the Justice League would certainly have come to avenge their sidekicks. And when the smoke cleared, Santa Prisca would be mine once more. Blowing the tunnel with you inside should have the same effect," Bane explains in the standard villain-tells-all-his-plans-before-executing-said-plans. Bane clicks on the trigger, only to realize that he's clicking on air.

"With what? This trigger thingy?" Kid Flash asks, holding the trigger with his hand.

Miss Martian levitates Bane up in the air before he can punch Kid Flash. Superboy smirks, "finally. Drop him." Miss Martian releases Bane and Superboy punches Bane out.

Kid Flash rushes in to punch a couple of guys as Superboy lands in the middle and taunts Mammoth. Aqualad pushes Mammoth out with water. Robin is tackling Shimmer as Null turns her attention to helping Aqualad. She focuses her energy and tries to see if she can nullify the effects of the formula. Superboy and Miss Martian set Sportsmaster's helicopter to explode. Null notices that Mammoth's body seems to be returning to before-formula shape as Aqualad sends shocks to the villain. Aqualad and Null nod at each other before turning their attention to Robin's fight with Kobra. Kid Flash, Miss Martian, Superboy, Null, and Aqualad take on a fighting stance as Robin jumps backwards to join the team.

"Another time then," Kobra says, disappearing. Robin runs ahead to check the tree that Kobra disappeared into, but the villain is gone. Robin makes his way back to the team as all of them are smiling at the successful outcome. Null thinks to herself that being in a team is definitely more fun than being in a partnership with Black Canary. Then again, she is only saying that because her headache is finally gone.

"We picked the right guy to lead," Robin says with a smile, "automatically making you the right guy to explain this mess to Batman."

Null smacks Robin in his shoulder, "Robin! I'm still not making any cookies for you or Kid Flash."

"Oh man, why me too?" Kid Flash asks as the others laugh at Null glaring at both Robin and Kid Flash. The youngest female is busy going on a rant about the headache she had from them bickering the entire mission.

Then, Null smiles, "but I am glad that everyone's alright. Even if Batman doesn't think so, how bout we call this a successful mission?"

All of them look at each other with a grin, except Aqualad who has a small smile and Superboy who is smirking. "Agreed," Aqualad confirms.

"A simple recon mission, observe and report," Batman begins, pacing the room in front of them, "you'll each receive a written evaluation detailing your many mistakes. Until then, good job. No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. How you adjust to the unforeseen is what determines success. And how you choose who leads determines character."

Null grins at the sight of Aqualad and Robin smiling at each other. The team are going to spend their time together at the Cave before heading home. As Null is walking towards the living room, Batman places his hand on Null's shoulder to stop her. Null looks at him, barely noticing Batman giving Robin a stern look to go on ahead. Robin gives one last glance at his mentor and his close friend, before following Kid Flash to the kitchen to get something to eat.

Null starts fiddling with her jacket, a feeling of fear in her heart. What if Batman tells her that she's not fit to be on this team? She knows she has a long way to go, but there's no way she'll want to leave the team. She won't leave, not until she proves herself to be better than how she is doing now.

"Stop worrying, Null," Batman begins, hiding his amusement at the young girl's nervousness. "I have some questions about your nullifying capabilities on the venom and blockbuster formula."

"Oh," Null says, "my power worked on it, but only for a few seconds as Aqualad sends shock waves to the mons- I mean, brute."

Batman nods his head, and lets the young teen go to the living room as he starts to think about what he should do now. If Sportsmaster is involved, the League of Assassins will be involved, and, as Batman looks at the team, he knows that things will be harder from here on out. All Batman can do now is to call Black Canary. It's time for the team to receive some professional training.

"All I recovered is a single ampule of Kobra Venom," Sportsmaster reports in a room with various screens showing members of the Light.

"Peut-etre the drug can be reverse engineered. Mais, what of our young heroes? First, Cadmus, then Mr. Twister. Now Santa Prisca," a heavily accented voice says.

"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. But 3 times is enemy action, and enemies of the Light must not stand," another deeper voice takes over.

"I'm more curious, Sportsmaster," another voice interrupts, "what of that girl, Null? Does she have the ability to reverse the drug's effects?"

Sportsmaster nods his head, "if given more time and training, she might be able to in the future."

"Then, we must get rid of her," the second voice commands.

* * *

Hope everyone is having a great day so far! I'll be back with Null and hopefully, with my new story soon! New story should be posted either today or tomorrow, depending on how long it takes me to study for my first exam in a class. See y'all soon!


	5. A New Teammate?

Hey there! How have you all been? It's been a while, I know. I have this thing called "college life" and it's not as easy as people assumed. Anyway, thank you for your patience! Let me begin by thanking some people...

Special thanks to these awesome people for their favorites and follows (hope you guys might upgrade to reviewing :x ): **Dementra, Black konako, Brooke Vengence, Arianna Le Fay, , MCRxRoxx, Schrenostahl, FanOfPiPercy, elmc1137, emoBUTshy,** and **Nikklur-Lucian**!

And a huge, big thanks to people who reviewed!* :

 ** **Down2earth360** : Haha, thank you! I was referring to a chapter I wanted to do that's based on Valentine's Day, but I didn't get the chance to complete it. Hopefully, I'll be able to upload that chapter when I'm free to write it!**

 **Guest: Hey, I did put asterisks as my line breaks but unfortunately, I just found out that when I click save on the doc manager, the asterisks disappeared. Thanks for pointing that out and I've changed to using line breaks for the sake of avoiding confusion! Also, I'm glad you like chapter 4. Please keep me posted on more of your thoughts :)**

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my OC, Victoria Adams and her family, and some of my make-believe storybooks as well as street names.

Let's begin, shall we?

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Our New Teammate?**

Tori taps her foot on the ground to the rhythm of the music playing on stage. She knows it's her favorite part of being in school. Her papa was panicking this morning, trying to make Tori go through her things five times more before she's allowed to step foot out the door. It's sad that her dad couldn't make it to the performance because of work, but she promises that she'll do her best. Of course she will, she wouldn't want to look like an idiot in front of hundreds of people. She watches from the side of the stage, waiting for her turn to perform. Tori smiles as her friend, Liz, is done with her rendition of _Uptown Funk_ with a saxophone.

Tori thinks she might go visit Black Canary after she's done with her performance since she's at Star City. It's not every day that she could surprise her mentor with a visit. She feels like she's finally settling in with the team and that they are able to work together without tearing anyone's head off. Although, unlike everyone else, she feels like the weakest link in the team and she's going to work hard to be better—if she can find the time. Rolling her eyes, she adjusts her dark green fairy-like dress before her name is called. She walks onto the stage, noticing how loud her heels are without her meaning to do that. She looks into the faces of her audience, and tells herself to relax. She's been doing this for a long time and she'll do fine again. _No_ , she'll do better than fine.

"Miss Victoria Adams, everybody. Miss Adams is a freshman at National Academy for Young Performers. She represents her school in the Vocal Division of this Interschool Queen Competition," the announcer states without so much as batting an eyelash. Tori smiles at the thought of Oliver Queen, the masked Green Arrow's public persona. Arrow doesn't know she's a singer, and neither does anyone else for that matter. She wants to keep it a secret from them. Although, she's not sure if Batman knows about it.

Tori smiles at the crowd and begins her performance.

After her performance, she looks at her phone to find a text from both Wally and Dick. Wally's complaining about being in school again, while Dick's telling her she should have been at the beach party. She types a quick reply to both of them: _well, education is kind of important, Wally_ and _don't boast, Dick, or I'll make you buy me a milkshake_. She shivers at the thought of going to the beach. She loves going to beach for the sandcastles and soaking up the sun, but… she doesn't really like getting wet.

Tori makes her way to the restroom when she sees a familiar person running outside. She narrows her eyes and chases after the person. She understands why he's here in this city, but she wants to know why he's running.

"Hey, Speedy!" Tori yells to try to get his attention. The boy turns around, surprised to see her. Speedy looks different now. Tori quirks an eyebrow at his sudden change of costume. From what she understands, Speedy is mad at Green Arrow and the other Justice League members for not recognizing the other ex-sidekicks and him as superheroes. He thinks he's Green Arrow's partner instead of Arrow's sidekick. Anyway, from the usual green to the striking red, Speedy looks different from normal. She admits that the red does look good with his spiked up ginger hair.

"Tori? What are _you_ doing here?" Speedy asks, looking with genuine confusion.

"I'm just here on school stuff. How about you, Speedy?"

"First off, I don't go by Speedy anymore. It's Red Arrow," he narrows his eyes as Tori looks like she's about to snort with laughter over the _originality_ of his name, "and _don't_ start with me on that, pipsqueak."

"Still not answering the question, Roy," Tori replies in her sing-song voice.

"Ugh, stop doing that," he pulls her into the alley and places an index finger on her lips. She looks down, forcing her cheeks to stay cool. This is no blushing matter! She should be mad at him for just pulling her without warning. A minute or so passed, Tori knows with the amount of time she has to train her nullifying power. She's definitely more in tune with time than anybody should ever be. "Okay, listen Tori, did you bring your costume?"

Tori quirks her eyebrow again, "I _never_ leave home without it."

"Good, I'm going to hand over this mission to the rest of the team now. But since you're here, I want you to go and guard Dr. Roquette while I get them," Red Arrow orders.

"Okay," Tori answers without questioning, "send me the coordinates."

Tori and Red Arrow has worked together on several occasions due to Green Arrow and Black Canary being together. She's more than used to Red Arrow's demanding and prideful nature, and he might be used to (she's not exactly sure though) her easy-going, quick temper, do-her-best personality. Red Arrow grabs Tori's shoulder before she walks away.

"Be careful out there, pipsqueak," Red Arrow says, looking away from her face.

Tori smiles, "will do, captain. And Red Arrow, you take care of yourself now."

* * *

Miss Martian gives an uncertain smile at the glaring match between Kid Flash and their new teammate, Artemis. She watches as Red Arrow leaves the Cave with a fierce look as he corrects the robotic female voice. She looks around the room and thinks about Null. Huh, the girl isn't back at the Cave yet and she wouldn't want to go on a mission without Null.

"I have a question, where's Null?" Miss Martian voices her concern, looking mostly at Robin since the two youngest of the team seem to be quite close to each other.

"She's having a school-" Robin starts to say.

"Null to Batman!" Null is yelling into her communicator and seems to be panting. "I require backup, asap! Oh, give me a break! Gah!"

"Null!" Several voices yell as they hear her having difficulties. Another woman screams.

"I asked for the Justice League, _not_ some kid to guard me!" the woman shouts. Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad try to avoid smiling or snickering, because they can picture Null rolling her eyes at the comment.

"Well, too bad. Now follow me, Dr. Roquette and I'll get you out of here. I'm sending the new coordinates of where I'll be heading to you guys. Meet me asap!"

"Now, now, now, that's not nice, Null, "a sultry voice reaches them. "Someone might get injured."

"That's the idea, Cheshire! Now stop following me, you stalker!" Null responds, setting marbles all over the floor behind her and sending spurts of energy at the person with spider-like features, which causes him to fall. She runs out with Dr. Roquette and proceeds to melt the door handles together with her laser pen. Hopefully, that would stall Cheshire and her team for a while and give Null enough time to make it to the cybercafé—Sandbar Internet Café—she knows is nearby. She doesn't understand how did Cheshire find them, unless… Null starts patting the doctor's sleeves and pulls out a tracker.

Frowning, she throws the tracker on the floor and crushes it with her foot. She crosses her arms as she glances around the room. Dr. Roquette finds a seat at one of the multiple chairs. Null is kind of nervous, now that she knows that there's about three people after Dr. Roquette. It's only through child's play, literally child's play from her use of marbles, that they managed to escape them for now. She can't wait for her teammates to arrive.

* * *

Null stands near Dr. Roquette as the female doctor works on the virus to stop her own creation. The young superheroine gazes at the leader of their team of young superheroes, Aqualad, and clenches her fist around the stun gun in her hand. She doesn't know what she would do without the team around her. They are the reason that she keeps fighting so hard. However, like Kid Flash, she doesn't know if she can trust Artemis yet. But, it can be her bias towards Red Arrow that makes her think that way. Green Arrow and Batman must have a good reason for allowing Artemis onto the team though, and she trusts their judgment.

She places her hand on Dr. Roquette's shoulder to calm the older woman. Dr. Roquette flashes her a rare smile, and the young girl nods in her return. She releases her hold on Dr. Roquette's shoulder to give the doctor the ability to concentrate fully on the task at hand. Null wonders if Superboy and Robin are doing okay. From what she remembers, they are heading to Wayne Tech in Miss Martian's bioship. She smiles to herself as her free hand touches her forehead. That bioship will always have a place in Null's heart, for sure. Thank goodness the bruise disappeared after a week. Kid Flash, Miss Martian, and Artemis are working together to stall the enemies from reaching Dr. Roquette. She tightens her grip on her stun gun again. Red Arrow is trusting them with this mission; there is no way they will fail this.

Aqualad and Null exchange looks. "We have company," Aqualad informs the doctor.

"Uploading now," the doctor replies with a smirk, "and by the way, you said you'll protect me!"

A smoke bomb rolls into the room. Aqualad pulls out his double swords made with water, Dr. Roquette stands up, and Null aims her stun gun. Aqualad turns around in time to get hit by darts as Cheshire jumps down from the ceiling. Null pulls Dr. Roquette backwards and stands in front of the doctor while glaring at Cheshire.

Aqualad moves forward to attack Cheshire, but after a couple of swipes with his swords, Cheshire knocks him down easily.

"Aqualad!" Null yells out, trying to get Dr. Roquette to stay put and not put herself in harm's way. Null frowns, thinking of the jellyfish poison-filled darts and how they are too troublesome. Both Dr. Roquette and Null look at the computer screen to see the downloading bar go pretty quickly.

"It's you again," Cheshire says, pulling a couple of darts out. "That marbles trick may have worked before, but this time, you're not escaping."

Null smirks, "try me."

The young superheroine fires the stun gun as Cheshire jumps away. Throwing her stun gun to the side and pushing Dr. Roquette away, Null rushes towards Cheshire and aims a kick with Cheshire still in mid-air. The assassin gets up before Null could land a few more hits. The two exchange a couple of punches, but Null starts to feel woozy after a sharp pain forms at her side. She looks down to see that Cheshire attacked her with a dart, and in her distraction, Cheshire sends her flying to the floor with a kick.

"Better luck next time, kid," Cheshire says, looking down at Null's slumped form.

Null struggles to stay awake, but could only see Cheshire taking slow strides to a retreating Dr. Roquette before her mind turns blank.

* * *

The girl wakes up to find herself in the bioship. Null blinks, groaning from the stinging pain at the side of her abdomen. She notices that everyone is silent and most of them are deep in thought. She sees Aqualad already up and looking much better than before. Smiling to herself, she's glad that her team leader has such great Atlantean immune system. Next to him, she notices the silent Superboy, who, for once, looks a little uncomfortable at Artemis' constant glances at him.

Null raises her eyebrows, wondering what happened between Superboy and Artemis. Miss Martian looks at ease in her bioship and doesn't seem to notice Artemis' quick glances, or maybe she's just pretending to not notice. Kid Flash keeps crossing his arms and sending glares at Artemis. Null frowns, wondering if this would hurt the dynamics of the team. She turns her attention to Artemis and looking at the blonde archer, Null decides to do her best to accept Artemis. Besides, Miss Martian seems to trust the new member.

Null feels a hand on her shoulder, and she looks up to see her close friend, Robin. She smiles at him and he grins. He offers her a water bottle.

"Are you feeling the aster yet?" he asks. Then, gesturing at Miss Martian, Robin says, "don't worry, Miss Martian helped to patch you up. The wound looks kind of nasty, at least that's what I gathered from Miss M's loud gasp."

Null shakes her head and then sighs, "it was my fault for not paying attention to Cheshire's every movement. And what happened after that?"

"Artemis let her escape," Kid Flash interrupts, giving a pointed glare at Artemis.

Aqualad sighs as Artemis and Kid Flash start bickering again, "I'm glad you're awake, Null. It has been a difficult task to keep those two quiet while you were asleep."

Null giggles, "oh, I _can_ imagine."

Robin returns to his seat after lightly squeezing Null's shoulder. That night, the bioship is filled with mostly smiling and grinning people, while only two of the passengers are bickering the entire journey back to the Cave.

* * *

Tori winces as she looks at her mirror reflection. The purplish bruise forming around the wound doesn't look pretty. But it doesn't matter right now because she has to get moving. Putting on her black skintight suit, she nods to herself in the mirror. She can definitely tell how big her dark circles are going to be the next morning. She notices that her book, _Fairy Tales: Reimagined_ by Larry Zane, is on her bed. She grabs it and places it on her slightly-crooked bookshelf. She grins, thinking back to the time her papa tried to work with a saw. To say that he did a crooked job would be an understatement.

"This is Jenna Greene, reporting from Loveland Boulevard! A robbery is occurring with four armed men-"

Null switches the radio off. She puts on her mask and grabs her stun gun. She walks out of the door, becoming Null the minute she rushes to Loveland Boulevard.

Without missing a beat, Null rushes in through the air vents, aiming for a surprise attack to throw the men off their guards. She winces, the pain in her gut making her feel sluggish. She knows that it has to be an aftereffect from the jellyfish poison. She removes the lid, trying her best to make no noise as she does so. She catches the sight of three of the men. Grinning, her mind has already formed a plan on what to do. Jumping down from the air vents, she lands on one of the men and fires her stun gun at the other, knocking two of them out of commission. She rushes over to the still-stunned third guy and aims a solid punch at him.

As Null is fighting the third guy, she doesn't notice that several pairs of eyes are looking at her.

"Do you think we should help her?" a sweet female voice asks. The five young costumed teenagers stare Null as she knocks out the third guy and proceeds to look for the fourth person that's trying to rob the bank.

"No, Miss M. Null would hate it if she finds out that we are following her," the boy in colorful costume replies.

"We will stay in the shadows until she needs our help," an older looking boy with blonde hair says.

The other raven haired boy crosses his arms, "this is stupid. Why is she doing this?"

The ginger haired boy sighs, "that's just Null for you. She hates asking for help."

Unbeknownst to all of them, another pair of eyes are looking at Null. The man tightens his hold on the vial of formula in his hands. He knows that there are more people around than he wanted. There is no way he can put the young female hero to the test when she has people watching over her. He grins, staring at the panting Black Canary's sidekick.

"Another time then," he says, disappearing into the shadows.

* * *

As usual, thanks for making it to the end! Please review, especially on this chapter since I included quite a lot of stuff that might be confusing.


	6. Baking Contest

Hello again! I know I took a really, really, really long break and I apologize for that. But I'm back and I'm going to be giving myself deadlines because I would be so lost without them! So, I'm going to do my best to update more often with clearer deadlines. I'm even going to update my profile page so if you want to check on when the next update will be, that's where I'll post it.

Hope you'll enjoy this chapter and thanks for sticking with me and enjoying this story! Also, this chapter does not take place in the actual series, but I believe it's important to really highlight the team's relationship with one another.

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own anyone in this story except for my original characters such as Null, Wyatt Adams (who's not appearing in this chapter), and whoever else I created.**_

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Baking Contest**

Recognized: B-04 Null.

Null rushes into the cave, waving her hands around in the air. Everyone stares at her, wondering if the girl is losing her mind. Null goes right up to Miss Martian and holds the Martian's hands with the puppy dog eyes look on her face. Even Superboy doesn't have his usual stoic look as he looks really confused. Wally and Robin exchange a look, the latter wondering if Null has turned into Wally for a day.

"Megan, we _have_ to join this competition! Look, look, look! It's a baking contest for young teenagers and, and, and oh my goodness, we should just join this!"

Most of them are now giving a blank stare at the young superheroine. _That_ is what is getting her so excited? It must be really easy to get Null happy on a daily basis. Kaldur, Wally, and Robin would know with the amount of times they could just get her an ice cream and she'll forgive them. Null keeps her focus on the Martian, making Miss Martian feel uncomfortable and nod her head to Null's request. Null grins, pumping a fist into the air.

"Great! So, here's what I was thinking," Null begins to say when she notices Artemis taking several steps away from them. Null grabs hold of Artemis' wrist and pulls her to the kitchen. "We're in this together, Artemis, and if you try to run, well, let's just say you shouldn't try to run."

Artemis shares a look with Megan. Both girls know that Null is being serious. Resigning to their fate, they make their way to the kitchen. The girls discuss what to make, although Artemis isn't helping much. The boys look at them with amused expressions. After all, they are used to putting up with Null's spontaneity. Robin turns to Wally.

"Hey, wanna play a video game?"

"Duh! Of course, I do!" Wally replies without a pause, "how bout the two of you?"

Kaldur smiles and shakes his head, refusing to join them but deciding to watch them play. Superboy smirks and agrees to beat them at the game. Null looks over at the boys and smiles. She wants to be close to Megan and Artemis as the boys are close to one another. She knows that they are the only people in the world who knows what it's like to be a young superhero. With renewed determination, Null rolls up her sleeves.

Megan pauses as she pours in the sugar into the bowl of flour, "Say, what's school like?"

Null smiles and continues mixing the icing.

Artemis, on the other hand, snorts, "School's stupid." She focuses on whipping the egg yolks with all of her strength. "Don't see why we have to go to school anyway."

"I don't know…I kind of like going to school, you know? It's better to learn some skills for the future," Null points out while gently placing her hands over Artemis' to calm the older teen's actions.

Megan pouts. "I still think it'll be cool to go to school! But uncle probably wouldn't allow me to do that…"

Null runs her hands through her hair. She looks at the boys having fun, even Superboy. Thinking to herself, she knows what she has to do. "I'll see what I can do to persuade the adults, kay?"

The martian nods her head enthusiastically with a huge grin. Yes, Null thinks to herself, she must do her best.

x

The teenage boy creeps around the room, trying to make as little noise as possible. He moves around the stools that are basically obstacles in his way. He can see the target within his sight now. Signaling to his partner in crime, he nods his head to say that it's time to pounce when the lights are switched on.

"Not so fast, Robin!" Tori smirks, standing with her hand on her hip and the other pointing at the culprits. "You too, Wally."

Both boys put their hands up in the air. Wally sighs, "guilty as charged. We're guilty as charged, beautiful."

Megan giggles at Wally's comment, "Oh, that's silly. You didn't have to steal the cookies, you can just _ask_ us!"

Kaldur sighs and runs his fingers through his short blonde hair. He walks towards Null. He takes a couple of cookies and hands them over to Wally and Robin. Wally scratches the back of his head, looking sheepish. Robin grins as he stuffs the cookie into his mouth.

"Thanks, dude." Wally directs his beaming smile at the young leader.

"You're welcome, Wally. Now, are the both of you done playing around?" The blond-haired teen asks with raised eyebrow.

Tori winks at Megan, signaling to the Martian that she has hid the rest of the cookies without the boys realizing a single thing. Megan gives the younger girl a thumbs up as Artemis shakes her head and wonders how she got stuck with these 'immature brats.'

Superboy finishes his plate of twenty cookies and looks at the girls. "Thanks."

Null smiles at the older teen. Megan squeals in delight, trying her hardest to hide her gigantic smile. Artemis smirks, accepting the gratitude in stride.

"Alright then, let's get ready to head to the contest!" Tori announces, shooing everyone else to the exit.

It doesn't take long for them to reach the competition site via zeta tube.

Tori eyes the competition. There are more contestants participating than she anticipated. But, Tori smiles to herself, they have been practicing. Besides, she doesn't care much about winning. She makes her way to the registration counter and signs them into the contest. Megan looks nervous while twiddling her index fingers together. Superboy looks bored, stuffing his hands into his pockets. Tori notices that the older teen keeps glancing at Megan.

"Do you think they noticed yet?" A voice speaks right beside her ear. Tori smiles at her best friend.

"No, I don't think they noticed." She turns around to face Robin with an amused smile.

He smirks in return. "They'll notice soon enough. Can't wait to see Wally's reaction when it happens!"

Tori shakes her head but silently, she agrees. After all, Wally has a tendency to overreact and it's _always_ funny to watch. Artemis is glaring at the speedster now as he shamelessly flirts with Megan. Kaldur makes his way over to Tori and Robin.

"Getting out of the line of fire, Kaldur?" Tori teases the blond.

"That would be the wise decision, Tori." Kaldur has a small smile on his lips. It doesn't take long for the rest of the team to join Tori, Robin, and Kaldur. They wait for the competition to start while teasing each other relentlessly. Tori giggles as Wally and Artemis start bickering again. Kaldur shakes his head but his smile is still present.

The contest begins within the next hour.

They decide to go with a simple recipe of chocolate chip cookies. It'll bake within the time limit and the ingredients aren't too difficult to get— _steal_ from the other teams. The contest management provides the ingredients to avoid any taste difference due to higher quality ingredients over lower quality ones. It doesn't matter to Tori; it just means more of an advantage for their team. Tori and Megan wait for Artemis as the older teen snatches all the ingredients their team needed before the other contestants could even process what is happening. The victorious smirk Artemis has on is mirrored on her teammates' faces.

"Let's get started!" Megan declares, putting on a pair of gloves.

The female members of the group quickly arrange themselves to their respective jobs. Spending the entire morning practicing, batches after batches, has got them more in tune to one another—kind of like fighting together. Tori smiles at the thought. The girls have fun baking the cookies, even Artemis, believe it or not.

Tori gets to work on melting baking chocolate. Artemis starts breaking egg shells and spilling its content into a bowl. Megan weighs the flour with the expert precision of a true baker. Working together, it doesn't take them long to finish all the prep work and have the cookie dough in the oven.

"Tori looks pretty happy with herself." Kaldur smiles at the girls from the distance.

Robin nods his head, "It works out."

The speedster grins. "It works out because Artemis didn't go crazy with those eggs there."

Robin punches Wally's arm. Wally groans but his grin is still present. They watch the other competitors and it is easy for them to say that their female friends would win the competition. Superboy crosses his arms over his chest, looking completely bored. Tori notices the slight twitch of Superboy's right eye. She laughs as she notices the boys attracting some female attention.

Tori nudges Megan's arm. "Seems like the boys are getting some _unwanted_ attention from the opposite sex." She winks at her older friend.

Megan frowns. "It's fine."

"You have to be more honest, Megan." Tori places the extra uncooked cookie dough on the counter and begins placing tiny balls of dough on a clean baking pan. It doesn't hurt to make more cookies.

Artemis scoffs. "Who cares? Once we're done with this, they'll back off." The blonde glares at the gawking girls with a fierceness that Tori would love to achieve someday.

After another fifteen minutes, the buzzer finally rings. Artemis rolls her eyes, Megan smiles while looking around at the other competitors' creations, and Tori looks triumphant. The judge, a petite elderly woman in her fifties, walks around the booths and tries several other baking creations before making it to their booth.

"And what have we here?" The judge takes a small bite of the chocolate chip cookie.

Tori holds up a glass of chilled milk for the judge to drink. "Chocolate chip cookies. We chose this recipe because it's a crowd favorite. Not only that, the sweetness of the chocolate in these cookies could lighten the mood of anyone eating it. After all, chocolate is known for releasing serotonin. And here's a cup of milk that will go really well with the cookies."

Tori has to admit to thinking about that explanation at the last minute but she isn't about to admit it out loud. The judge smiles and takes the cup of milk. "Lovely, dearies! I can see that you have thought about the role you have as baker and that is to bring joy into the hearts of the people who enjoy eating baked goods." The judge writes several things on her clipboard before moving along to the next booth.

"That's some fast thinking, Tori!" Megan whispered.

Tori laughs. "What are you talking about? I've thought about it long and hard, you know?" The youngest female member winks at her teammates.

Artemis raises her eyebrow. "Yeah, and I'm a purple elephant."

Kaldur, Wally, Robin, and Superboy walk over to the girls. "Did you just become a teacher's pet?" Robin asks, looking like he's about to start laughing.

Tori rolls her eyes. "I've always been a teacher's pet."

Robin nods. "You're totally right about that."

"Think we won?" Artemis folds her arms across her chest while keeping an eye on the other competitors.

The judge takes hold of the microphone and smiles. "It is truly an honor for me to be the judge for such an amazing event. Now, I know that each and every one of you did your very best to bake something delicious and scrumptious but there can only be one winning team." The audience quiets down as the judge takes a deep breath. "May the team with Victoria Adams make their way to the stage and accept the prize!"

Tori looks at her teammates and grabs Megan and Artemis by the hand before pulling them to the stage. The crowd erupt into cheers and claps with Robin and Wally leading them. The judge gives them four plane tickets to Hawaii. "Congratulations, ladies!"

Megan cheers though she looks like she's about to cry. Artemis takes the chance to give the previous ogling girls a smug look. Tori runs down from the stage and throws herself at Robin with a bone-crushing hug.

"Whoa there, Tori!" Robin laughs. "I get that you're happy but you don't have to kill me in the process."

Kaldur pats Tori's head as the young brunette squeezes her best friend tighter. Wally smirks while Superboy looks confused. "Is she happy or sad that they won?"

"She's happy. She just has a weird way of showing it." Wally answers. "Come on, Tori, release our best friend from your deadly grip."

With those magic words, Tori releases Robin from her grip and turns to find her next victim. The speedster could not escape fast enough as she gives him a hug too. Their other teammates smile and smirk at the scene. Unbeknownst to them, Tori has a reason for hugging them and it has something to do with the extra ticket to Hawaii. She doesn't want to have to choose who should occupy the last ticket. But maybe she doesn't have to choose.


	7. The Prized Vacation Part One

Hey there, my amazing readers! This is just a reminder that the future update dates for my stories are posted on my profile page. Special thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed this story (and me)! You guys are awesome!

I have excellent news today! I have a little special surprise for you that I wanted to give to you during the last update but I wasn't done writing it yet. Anyway, it's a snippet of what it would be like if the characters did not become superheroes and they do not have any superpowers. It'll be towards the bottom of the page after chapter 7 is done. Hope you'll enjoy that little mini story!

This chapter does not take place in the actual series and it'll be in two parts. Hope you'll enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think!

Oh, and if anyone is interested in Naruto fanfiction, I've actually started one today. Feel free to check it out (or don't, it's really up to you) and I'll be really, really thankful if you do!

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own anyone in this story except for my original characters such as Null and Wyatt Adams (who's still not appearing in this chapter).**_

* * *

 **Chapter 7: The Prized Vacation Part One**

Tori watches her teammates hanging out in the ocean as she sits on a blanket on the beach. She has no idea why she was worried about having to choose someone. She should know better than to expect the boys letting the girls get away on a trip without them. She watches as Megan starts splashing Wally with water. Tori's glad that Megan has the ability to transform her appearance. It wouldn't be good if the other tourists start wondering about her green skin. Wally's face turns a little pink as he finds himself completely drenched but he wastes no time in splashing Megan back. Robin dives into the ocean without any concern for anyone else who might be in his way. Tori watches as Wally yells at Robin for drenching him a second time. Tori shakes her head, giggling at her best friends and their antics.

Kaldur looks completely in his element. He swims a couple of laps from one side of the beach to the other without coming up to breathe. Tori looks around, hoping that no one notices Kaldur and his ability to breathe under water. Artemis is sleeping on top of a donut-shaped flotation device with sunglasses on her face. It isn't going to take long before she would be woken up by some of their teammates. Superboy, Tori notices, looks at ease with the ocean and the beach. It's a completely different look from his passive or angry expressions during missions. He lays on top of the beach, letting little kids pile buckets of sand over his body.

Everything seems to be going well. It helps that they have a vacation house to stay at because of a little help from Bruce Wayne, but Tori and Robin refuse to tell anyone else on the team about how they got the place.

Robin has to admit that Tori's ability to puppy dog her way through his mentor's heart is a pretty good skill he plans to keep in reserve for future use. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the boys traveled to Hawaii through the smart use of zeta tubes. Basically, it's a free vacation for the teens and they believe they deserve it.

Tori has a book out on her lap. She's smiling as she reads _Fairy Tales: Reimagined_. It is a lovely book, in her opinion, and she wonders what will happen if she becomes a fairy tale character. She scoffs, knowing full well that she'll probably hate being a damsel in distress. That's why she chose the path of a hero. Tori waves at her teammates while grabbing the nice cool drink beside her. They are part of the reason Tori is still a hero. Though, she hopes that they can enjoy their vacation without anything crazy happening for once.

"Hey, Tori!" Wally runs up to her, blocking the sun. "Don't you want to go for a swim too?"

Tori smiles. "Not really. I'm just going to read this book while I have the free time to _actually_ read."

Wally scrunches his nose. "Sure, you do that."

Robin runs up from behind and stands next to Wally. "Or we can play a game of beach volleyball?"

Tori sighs, closing her book and putting it in her duffel bag. "Fine, fine. I'll join you outdoorsy people…" The girl places her hand on her hip while her other hand runs through her hair. "So how are we gonna divide the team?"

Artemis, Megan, Kaldur, and Superboy make their way to the trio after hearing the word 'game.' Megan giggles, already having a volleyball under her arm. She looks ready to have fun. Artemis smirks. Kaldur sighs, worrying about the competitive streak that everyone seems to have in their little group.

Superboy stands with his arms crossed over his chest. "I'm ready."

Wally punches Superboy on his arm. "Sure, big guy. We gotta plan the teams first. Who are the captains?"

"How about you and Robin?" Tori suggests while pointing her index fingers at both boys. "Putting the both of you on the same team would be a disaster, so let's try avoiding that!"

Robin grins. "Everyone knows we want to be feeling the aster!" Meanwhile, Wally grumbles that it's not his fault that the volleyball was blasted into smithereens the last time. Everyone else agrees with Tori and soon the teams are formed. Team Robin has Artemis and Kaldur. Team Wally has Megan and Superboy. Tori volunteers to be the scorekeeper and referee.

Tori stands by the makeshift net they have, which is just a line drawn on the sand with a long stick. Both teams are standing in position. Tori holds up the ball and calls both team captains over to her.

"Alright, heads or tails?"

Wally nods at Robin. Robin looks over at his team. After a short discussion, Robin grins. "We're going with heads."

Tori flips the coin into the air and catches it. She opens her fist and it reveals heads. "So, Robin, who's having the ball?"

Robin smirks. "We will. Get ready to lose!"

"Oh bring it!" Wally taunts back, using his finger to gesture at his younger teammate with an _I'm watching you_ glare.

Tori shakes her head as she tosses the ball to Artemis, who is going to start the match. The young girl smiles, using her power to nullify to give both teams an equal match. She watches as Artemis slams the ball down but Superboy intercepts that easily and tosses it back to Team Robin. Robin cheers as he knocks the ball back to the opposing team. Wally, without his natural speed, moves at a slower speed but manages to connect with the ball and sends it back. Kaldur jumps in front of Artemis and repeats Artemis' attempt of slamming the ball down but of course, Megan would not go down without a fight.

The ball keeps going back and forth like this for several more times before Wally finally misses and the ball lands on their side. Team Robin cheers while Wally thumps his fist on the ground.

"Take that, Wally!" Robin shouts.

"You just got lucky that round! We'll get the next hit, right team?" Wally turns to Superboy and Megan.

"You got that right, Wally! Let's do this!" Megan cheers.

Superboy crosses his arms and smirks. "We'll win."

Tori grins, knowing full well that Team Wally is going to win the next round. As the referee, she picks up the ball and passes it to Artemis for her to start the following match. Artemis smirks. Like the accurate archer she is, Artemis aims straight for the opening between Superboy and Megan, but Superboy is refusing to let the ball pass without hitting it back. The Superman clone tosses it back and it begins another round of the ball flying from one team to the next. Tori taps her feet, patiently waiting for someone to lose their grasp on the ball, but it turns out she does not need to be that patient.

"Help him!" The shrill voice of a woman interrupted the game.

The ball lands on the ground as the entire team turn to look at the ocean.

Immediately, the team began running when they see a man struggling to get out of the water. Tori clenches her fist and her heart sinks. It's impossible to tell why the man is struggling against the water from her view. It's true that the team wants to save the man, but they can't exactly expose their abilities without there having repercussions. Tori glances around and it's no wonder that everyone is staring out at the ocean. She watches some of the other men rushing out to help the struggling swimmer. He should be fine then, but she feels like something is not right with the situation. She tugs Robin's hand. He turns and she gestures at him. He nods and gets the attention of their other teammates. Tori runs off first and grabs her bag that's by the blanket. She pushes her way through throngs of spectators and slips into the empty changing room.

She doesn't wait before she starts pulling out her teammates' costumes. She honestly did not want to pack their costumes. She really wants a relaxing vacation. She tosses it at them as they arrive right behind her. "Here, quickly get yourself changed while I go on ahead." She rushes ahead of the team as she is already in her costume. She makes it back in time to see a severed hand landing right in front of her. It doesn't surprise her that this sends the other visitors into a frenzy as people start running away from the ocean. Null narrows her eyes and holds her hand to her mouth as blood begins to spread through the previously blue ocean.

The rest of the team appear next to her, scanning the situation with matching surprised looks. Everyone turns to Aqualad for directions.

"Miss Martian, I want you to fly high and levitate the man to safety. Superboy and I will go after the person responsible for this. Robin, Kid Flash, Artemis secure the parameters and make sure everyone else gets out of the ocean. This is not a fight for civilians. Null, keep close, we may need your power." Aqualad runs ahead with Superboy as Miss Martian flies high above and lifts the injured man. She levitates the man to the safety of the beach while Kid Flash rounds up the men that went into the ocean and instructs them to get out of the ocean. Artemis directs the people on the beach to move along and get to the safety of the city. Robin places a hand on Null's shoulder, concern flashing across his features.

Null tries to keep her breath steady.

 _Blood_. There's blood everywhere. The bloody ocean. Again. _It's bloody again_.

Null shakes her head and offers Robin a shaky smile. "I can do this, Robin. _I can_. Don't worry, birdbrain!" She runs ahead, ignoring her racing heartbeat. Robin doesn't reply but continues to keep an eye on his female teammate as he works to get everyone away from the ocean with Kid Flash and Artemis. Null freezes when a grey huge figure launches into the air. The figure has the features of a hammerhead shark for where his face and head should be. His body is clearly bulkier than a normal human and it looks grey as well. Miss Martian moves out of the way, narrowly avoiding the enemy's attack while Superboy reacts angrily and pounds into the attacker. Aqualad holds up his water bearers and starts adding pressure to the attack on the half-shark, half-man creature.

"Null, we need assistance!" Aqualad shouts. Robin watches as Null just stands there, frozen to the spot. Robin ignores his assigned duty and runs over to help Aqualad, Miss Martian, and Superboy by tossing birdarangs as an element of surprise before throwing bat-bolas in an attempt to restrain the shark hybrid.

Null sinks to the ground, trying her hardest to stop her own shaking. She looks up in time to watch the enemy breaks through Robin's bat-bolas and blocks Robin's kick and Superboy's punch. _No_ , she doesn't want a repeat. She forces herself to stand up. She takes a couple of steps, reminding herself to just keep moving. But she's too late and the shark hybrid manages to get away from the team.

Null falls onto her butt and hugs her knees close to her. She doesn't want to see the redness of the ocean—the blood flowing freely. Instead, she thinks back to the past minute. She knows that the enemy escaped because of her and yet, she has no idea what she could have done differently. She wipes the cold sweat forming on her forehead. The young brunette feels a hand on her shoulder. Kid Flash offers her a small smile.

"Hey, everything's fine now." Kid Flash tries to reassure his teammate but Null isn't having any of that.

"S-sorry. I don't know what came over me…" She tries to get up, hoping to brush off whatever happened as a foolish mistake. But her legs wouldn't listen and she falls right back down onto the sand.

Aqualad takes in the pale, ashen look of his teammate and sighs. "We were counting on you, Null. If you were there-"

Robin pushes Aqualad. "She said she was sorry. Cool it, Aqualad!"

Null reaches her hand up and grabs Robin's hand. She sighs, noting the worried expression on Miss Martian's and Kid Flash's faces and the uncomfortable body languages from Artemis and Superboy. "He's right, Robin." Null pulls on Robin's hand to get up. Robin stumbles at the sudden movement. "It was my fault. It won't happen again." _Hopefully_ , she thinks to herself.

Null walks off in the direction of Batman's vacation house, refusing to look back at the team. Robin and Kid Flash exchange looks before turning to look at their other friends. Aqualad looks disappointed but it is hard to tell what disappointed him more. He takes in a deep breath and addresses the rest of the team.

"Alright, let's head back for now. I need to report this to Batman and the rest of the Justice League."

No one wants to argue with that and everyone follows closely behind Null. Robin picks up the bag his teammate left behind and swings it over his shoulder. It was one thing to fight the enemy; it was another thing to fight an enemy from the past. He only hopes that she'll overcome this.

x

Batman growls. Just one simple vacation. How can one simple vacation turn into an attack on their sidekicks? But, Batman notes, the team did a good job operating despite the suddenness of the attack. Except for Null. Batman still remembers the day Null lost her mother. He clenches his fist. The poor girl acted like she was fine that day but clearly, she is still…

"And how is Null doing?" Black Canary asks, concern written all over her face. Batman snaps to attention and looks at the screen in the Justice League's conference room. Batman watches as the young team all turn to look at Null. The girl has a cup of hot chocolate in her hands and a blanket forming a protective cocoon around her. Beside her, Robin is sitting perched on the edge of that one-seater. Kid Flash is eating something and trying to shove some food at Null. Artemis is playing with her arrows, looking like she would rather be training than just sitting around. Miss Martian munches on some cookies which is a direct contrast to Superboy's swallowing of cookies by the mouthfuls. Aqualad looks serious, sitting on the coffee table with his hands joined together.

Null sighs. "I'm fine. I just feel bad for letting the guy go."

Black Canary brings a cup of hot tea to her lips and sips it. "Okay, but that's not all you're feeling, Null." She looks at her protégé with a look that implies they need to have a serious talk when Null gets back. Null groans and buries her face into the blanket. Robin snickers but stops when Batman turns to glare at his own protégé.

Aquaman leans forward, adopting the same pose that Aqualad is having. "A half-shark, half-man, you say?"

"Yes." Aqualad nods. "Wasn't there someone like that studying in Queen Mera's conservatory?"

Aquaman frowns and looks at the other Justice League members. "Yes, you are correct. His name is Nanaue Sha'ark, or you may recognize his known alias as King Shark, and if what you say is true, he must be having a frenzy. But what caused his frenzy and if he would be back, that is the question."

"If he comes back, we'll be ready." Kid Flash interjects.

"This is not a mission for your team." Batman glares at each one of them, but it is clear to everyone on the team that the statement is for Null. "You will all return home tomorrow. Do I make myself clear?"

Superboy, while spending most of the conference call time avoiding looking at Superman, turns to glare back at Batman. "We are _not_ cowards."

"This is not an enemy this team can face. It is not up for debate, Superboy." Batman says, crossing his arms over his chest. "Right now, King Shark has a taste for human flesh."

Null pushes the blanket off her and stands up. She places the mug of hot chocolate on the side table and faces the Justice League members. "I know I'm speaking out of turn and I know that my actions have caused most, if not all, of you to doubt my capabilities. But…" She holds onto Robin's hand and Miss Martian's hand. "This is our mission. Allow us the chance to redeem ourselves. Give _me_ that chance." She bows before looking up again with renewed determination. She refuses to be the weak link anymore; she will prove herself and she will get face her fear. She can still picture the blood of the ocean, but she doesn't want to have this constant fear.

Miss Martian squeezes her hand and nods her head at her young friend. "Yup!" She chirps. "We can definitely do this!"

Artemis smirks. "We already know where he likes to attack and what his strengths are. It won't take us long to figure out his weaknesses." She places her arrows down and stands up to be beside Null and everyone else.

Null smiles at them, her eyes watering. "We _can_ do this!"

Aqualad stares at Null and recognizes the look of defiance on her face. He turns to face Aquaman and nods at his king. "I will lead this team to victory."

Batman frowns as Robin gives him a cheeky thumbs-up. He shakes his head. " _One_ more chance. Do not make me regret this. I will be sending Red Tornado and Hawkgirl over for assistance." Batman switches the conference call off before their young proteges can protest further about having babysitters. _Reckless teens_. But, Batman has to admit, that they have grown in the short time since the team was established. He has hopes that the team will continue to grow.

"I'm surprised, Batman." Flash teases his broody teammate. "You're not usually this easy to bend."

Batman opens his mouth to reply but Black Canary interrupts them. "This is something Null will have to face." Black Canary tries to keep her voice steady, though her worried expression is not helping her. "It's better for her to face it now." Black Canary wonders if they are making the right decision to send them after a strong assailant—someone who has the strength of a shark and the intelligence of a man.

* * *

 **Special Story: High School without Powers**

Victoria Adams has no idea that Gotham Academy would be this huge. She blinks at the imposing building with her mouth open. The other students walk around her and avoid her with ease as she continues to just stare.

She has no idea that Gotham Academy looks like an old castle from those Disney movies she has seen in the past. Although, she has to admit that the castle-like school isn't pearly white and sunshine all over it. Instead, it's grey and sunshine all over it. The students are wearing navy blue blazers on top of their white shirts. The girls are wearing grey skirts, almost as dark as the castle walls. The boys, on the other hand, are wearing grey pants in the same shade.

She watches as the other students are chatting happily to one another after being back from summer break. It's impressive to watch students of different age getting along well together. Victoria feels a little odd since she doesn't know where the main office would be and where she should sign in before heading to class. She giggles. Now, that's another problem, where on earth would her classes be? The young brunette turns around after feeling a light tap on her shoulder.

The fair skinned, freckled girl with bright red hair smiles at her. "Hey there! You look like you're lost and you need help."

Victoria feels her face turning pink. "Y-yeah. I guess I do look a little too awestruck and confused, huh?"

The girl talking to her shrugs. "Don't worry. I was like that too when I first got here. Anyway," the girl holds up her hand to shake Victoria's hand. "I'm Megan!"

"Victoria Adams." They shake hands. "So….which way to the main office?"

Megan giggles and starts tugging on Victoria's hand to pull the younger girl along with her. "I'll show you! C'mon!"

The two of them weave past the crowd while Megan waves at some of the people calling out to her. For the most part, Victoria is thankful that Megan is helping her but she does feel bad since Megan should be catching up with her friends after the long break.

"You know, you can just point me in the right direction…" Victoria interjects as they walk through the busy hallways.

Megan giggles again. "You worry too much!"

"Hello, beautiful." Both girls turn around to see a boy with red hair leaning against the wall with a goofy smile. "Megan, who's your new friend?"

Victoria grins and offers her hand. "Isn't it a little rude to be asking for my name without offering yours?"

"You have a point there. The name's Wally West." He shakes her hand, a sheepish smile on his face.

"I'm Victoria Adams. Nice to meet you, Wally."

"Oh!" Megan exclaims, covering her mouth with her hand. "I totally forgot about a meeting with the other cheerleaders!" The older female turns to Victoria. "I'm so, so sorry that I have to leave but I'm sure Wally will help you out."

Victoria turns to Wally to see him smirking. He wraps an arm around her shoulder. "You can count on me, beautiful."

Victoria laughs, thinking that Wally is just a silly goofball. "Then, I shall count on you, kind sir. Shall we tally on?"

Megan waves, giggling at the pink tinting Wally's face. The female red head disappears into the crowd of students. Victoria turns her attention to Wally and smiles. Wally grins and starts to lead the new girl to the main office. Apparently, unlike most schools who would place the main office right by the entrance of the school, Gotham Academy decides that having the main office at the center of the school is more beneficial. Victoria rolls her eyes, wondering how late she'll be to her first class.

Wally escorts her into the main office.

Victoria takes a step back at the receptionist's appearance. She leans into Wally. "Isn't he a…robot?"

"Yes, and _he_ can hear you." The red android-like robot responds in a mechanical voice. "My name is Red Tornado. How may I assist you?"

Victoria's entire face turns bright red and Wally chokes on his laughter, holding onto his stomach to steady himself. She smacks Wally's back, thinking that the poor boy has something stuck in his throat. "Are you alright, Wally?! Do you need to see the nurse?"

Wally waves his hands frantically. "No, no, I'm fine. Don't worry!" He wheezes the words out, still trying to stop himself from laughing. "A-anyway," he takes a deep breath, "this is Victoria Adams."

Red Tornado sighs. "I really don't understand humans. Miss Adams, I have your file right here. Please, read through these documents and sign them. Mister West, you may return to your class. I will not allow you to have an excuse to skip classes."

Wally groans but turns to Victoria. "Hey now, I'll be seeing you around, milady."

Victoria grins. "Thank you once more, kind sir. Now, I have a battle with some paperwork to attend to." She holds up the paperwork in her hands and Wally laughs before disappearing out the door.

The young brunette smiles, thinking about the various interesting characters she has the chance to meet so far. Megan is a sweet, cheerful girl with a kind heart. It's amazing that she's a cheerleader but Victoria doesn't find it that surprising. Wally is a total goofball and a flirt but he's fun to be around. In the meantime, she's not sure about the odd receptionist. What kind of person hires a robot to be the receptionist? Especially since the robot is kind of a smart ass. Either way, Victoria grins to herself, she's enjoying Gotham Academy for now and she hopes to truly find her place in the school.

* * *

 _ **Sneak Peek for Chapter 8: The Prized Vacation Part Two**_

"So," Tori turns to look at Kaldur. "How are we going to do this mission?"

"Can you do this?" Kaldur asks in return.

" _Yes_." Tori stares into Kaldur's eyes, daring him to refuse her help.

Kaldur smiles. "Good. Then, we're counting on you, Tori. Assuming he will try to attack at the same beach again and that there will be swimmers in the ocean, we will stick with the same plan. His skin is durable against most of the attacks, but Superboy's super strength did affect him. I will continue to assist Superboy. Artemis, how many explosive arrows do you have?"

Artemis smirks. "Enough."

 _ **Thanks for reading! Do leave a comment if you enjoy it or if you have a question or if you have a critique for me :) If anyone is interested in the special chapter and would like me to continue writing it, do let me know! I'll definitely continue it if a few people enjoyed it.**_

 _ **Have a great week and see you guys real soon!**_


	8. The Prized Vacation Part Two

Good morning/afternoon/evening, everyone! This is just a reminder that the future update dates for my stories are posted on my profile page. Special thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed this story (and me)! You guys are awesome!

Alright, before we get on with the story, I've got two things to address. So, I guess I won't be continuing with the High School Special story. I'm actually not sure if anyone wanted to read more of that.

The second thing is to address Guest's review. Hey there, Guest, thank you so much for your review! I understand what you're saying and where you're coming from. But, I'm going to keep writing in the direction that I'm going for now and see where it takes the story. My other story, _Oracle of Justice_ , seems to be heading into the Kaldur x OC direction though. Thanks again for your review! I appreciate you taking the time.

Anyway, hope you'll enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think!

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own anyone in this story except for my original characters such as Null and Wyatt Adams (he should appear soon, huh?).**_

* * *

 **Chapter 8: The Prize Vacation Part 2**

The young brunette is busy cooking breakfast for her teammates when one of them appear in the kitchen with a confident stride. She looks up and offers him a smile. Kaldur returns the smile with a tiny one of his. He looks at the wide array of eggs, bacon, baked beans, hash brown, and even salad. Tori is still cooking sausages on the frying pan. She has to admit that the kitchen in the vacation house is so much better than her own kitchen at home. She could easily stuff the bacon in the oven to cook while she fries the eggs.

In a way, cooking helps to take her mind off things, like say, going after a shark-like enemy. She doesn't want to think about it yet but she knows that they will need to discuss a plan of action with everyone.

"Kaldur, do you mind calling everyone else? Breakfast is _almost_ ready." The older teen nods his head and makes his way to call his other teammates up. In a way, he is relieved that Tori is treating him the same despite his reaction towards her inability to fight the day before. Of course, for as long as Kaldur has known the young female hero, he knows that she rarely gets too mad at her friends. If not, she would have gone through with her threat of not giving cookies to Wally and Robin for a week after the team leadership debacle.

Before Kaldur could knock on Wally's door, the door opens, revealing the red headed speedster. Wally grins at Kaldur before rushing off to the kitchen. Kaldur shakes his head and smiles. At least that is one less teammate requiring a wake up call. He knocks on Superboy's door and opens it without hesitation.

Back at the kitchen, Wally climbs up onto the kitchen counter with ease. "Good morning, beautiful!"

Tori grins. "Save it for Megan, Wally. Your little tricks don't work on me." She winks at him and slaps his hand away when he tries to steal a piece of bacon.

He laughs and scratches the back of his head. Tori reaches forward and tries to fix Wally's horrible bed hair. The older teen's cheeks turn pink, but Tori doesn't seem to notice.

"Oh, come on, you're seriously flirting this early in the morning?" The familiar snarky tone of Artemis enters the room. The blonde archer glares at Wally, annoyance clear on her face. Tori walks over to Artemis after turning the fire down on the stove. She combs her fingers through Artemis' hair without saying a word. Tori smiles as she wonders if her teammates are all just bad at fixing bed hair. Artemis' face turns a little pink. "Er, thanks."

Tori giggles and returns to her spot in front of the stove, tossing the sausages onto a plate. "You're welcome, Artemis! Come on, you two, help me bring the food to the table."

The three of them bring the food to the table just as the other members of their small team make their way to the room.

"Morning." Robin yawns, and he doesn't bother covering his open mouth in the process. " _Wow_ , Tori. Someone's been busy this morning."

"Thanks for cooking, Tori!" Megan hugs her younger teammate. "The food smells delicious! You should say something, Superboy."

"Mm." The teen in question grunts. "Smells good."

Tori laughs, prying Megan off her as gently as possible. "Well then, let's dig in before the food gets cold!" Everyone takes a seat and begins piling food onto their plates. Tori swears she hears Artemis calling Wally a pig under her breath but she thinks that it doesn't hold the usual irritated tone the blonde archer usually has. She smiles, happy that the team is not commenting on how horrible her dark circles look.

"Pass me the sausages!" Wally reaches over Robin to grab the plate of sausages from Kaldur. Robin elbows Wally once the speedster places the plate down. "Ouch! It's not my fault you didn't grab the plate from Kaldur."

"Dude, no one is as rude as you." Robin quirks an eyebrow at Wally.

"I beg your pardon!"

Tori laughs. "Oh, Wally, don't act so indignant!" And, Tori thinks to herself, don't try to act so posh.

The team spends the morning laughing and teasing one another, conveniently pretending to forget about the mission they have later in the day. In a way, Tori is grateful for it, but at the same time, she doesn't want to be the person making her teammates uncomfortable. As the team sits in the living room, Tori clears her throat.

"So," Tori turns to look at Kaldur. "How are we going to do this mission?"

"Can you do this?" Kaldur asks in return.

" _Yes_." Tori stares into Kaldur's eyes, daring him to refuse her help.

Kaldur smiles. "Good. Then, we're counting on you, Tori. Assuming he will try to attack at the same beach again and that there will be swimmers in the ocean, we will stick with the same plan. His skin is durable against most of the attacks, but Superboy's super strength did affect him. I will continue to assist Superboy. Artemis, how many explosive arrows do you have?"

Artemis smirks. "Enough."

x

The team is waiting on the volcanic mountain path by the beach, already wearing their superhero costumes with a completely serious expression on their faces. They are looking around the area. It looks the same as it did yesterday. There are fewer tourists and beach goers though, but the team expects that to happen. Null holds her hands together, doing her best to calm her nerves. Miss Martian looks worried. Aqualad is as passive looking as ever. For once, Artemis and Kid Flash are not bickering before a mission. Although, it might be because they are keeping an eye on the ocean. Robin has a binocular in his hands that he passes to Aqualad. Superboy looks bored, but it's never good to underestimate Superboy. He may look bored now. That can easily change in a second.

"Any sign of him?" Robin asks, bouncing on his feet. He's anxious to get this mission over with. He hates looking at the frightened Null. This is the girl that, though she rarely charges into situations without thinking, would definitely charge into things to save her friends and other civilians. It's odd for him to see her like this.

"No." Aqualad frowns. "Maybe I should go into the ocean and look for him."

"I know that the ocean is your domain, but let's avoid that." Robin replies, wanting to have the element of surprise on their side instead of it being on the enemy's side.

There's another reason that the team is feeling restless. From where they are hiding on the cliffs, they are feeling heat emanating from the volcano. Null doesn't understand how it is happening because the volcanoes here should be dormant now. She fans herself with her hands, ignoring the weird looks that Kid Flash is giving her.

Kid Flash leans into Robin, whispering into his best friend's ears. "I don't think that's working. Should we tell Null?"

Null rolls her eyes. "I can hear you, you know? Besides, unless Robin has a handheld fan in that utility belt of his, I'm doing what I can."

Kid Flash smiles sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. He turns to Robin. "Well, do you?"

Robin smirks. "Even if I did, don't you think I'll be using it for me?"

"Good point." Kid Flash nods his head. "Hey, Aqualad. How's everything with Hawkgirl and Red Tornado?"

Aqualad touches the communication device on his ear. "There is no sign of King Shark at either of their locations. We will wait here for now."

Miss Martian pulls up a bottle of chilled water and hands it to Null. "Maybe this will help?"

"Oh! Thank you, Miss M!" Null uncaps the bottle and drinks it all in one go. "Much better…" She sighs, a smile on her face.

Aqualad furrows his eyebrows. "The water… Does it look strange to anyone else?"

Robin takes his binocular back from Aqualad to have a closer look at the ocean. "It's a little…too foamy. I don't get it."

Kid Flash reaches out for the binocular. "Hand it over, Rob." Kid Flash grabs the binocular from Robin and squints into it. "Huh. You're right. Supey? You see anything?"

Superboy glares into the water. "Trouble."

"I need assistance, Aqualad!" Hawkgirl's voice rings out from the communication device.

"As do I." Red Tornado says. "There are sharks moving closer to the swimmers."

And in that moment, Null cries out, pointing at the ocean as a shark's fin is swimming in rapid speed circling the swimmers out in the ocean. Aqualad scans the location and frowns. "Okay, we're going to have to split up. Kid Flash will head to Hawkgirl and assist her. Miss Martian will assist Red Tornado. The rest of us will remain here."

"Got it!" "Right!" Kid Flash and Miss Martian shout in unison and they move to help the Justice League members.

Aqualad looks at each of the remaining heroes. "Artemis, give us long range support. Null, you and Robin will help move the crowd to safety. Superboy and I will take care of him."

Superboy smirks. "And _this time_ , we'll win."

"Robin, take the left! I'll take the right!" Null runs off, reminding herself to just keep moving and ignore the growing fear in her heart. Artemis aims her bow and arrow at the area slightly below the shark creature and fires. The shark in the ocean swerves to the left to avoid the explosion. With Artemis shooting at the enemy, Robin and Null has an easier time leading the swimmers back to the beach. The explosions prevent the enemy from getting close to the swimmers. Superboy and Aqualad run into the ocean. Superboy slams into the creature, revealing that it is indeed King Shark and not an ordinary shark.

Null steps into the water and takes a deep breath. It's okay, she tells herself. There's nothing to fear. It's just water. With shaky hands, she gestures to the beach. "H-hey! Hey, listen! Everyone, hurry up and get out of here!" She looks around her and watches as adults and children alike run and swim as fast as they could to the beach. Robin is busy leading the beach goers back on his end of the beach. Null takes another deep breath and turns to look at Artemis keeping King Shark at bay whenever he gets loose from Superboy and Aqualad's constant attacks. Aqualad refrains from sending shock waves at the enemy.

A loud cry catches Null's attention. She scans the crowd, trying to spot the person crying. She swims deeper into the ocean and sighs in relief.

"Hi, sweetie. It's alright. Why don't I take you to your mommy and daddy?" She pats the little girl's head. "Shh... it's okay. I promise." The little girl gives Null a watery smile. She holds onto a crying little girl's hand. "Let's go, okay?"

The little girl nods her head. "O-okay..."

They start to make their way over to the crowd when Null pushes the girl into the hands of another adult as she feels herself being pulled away. The little girl yelps and starts to cry again. "Take care of her!" Null yells before being submerged in water.

"Null!" Several voices cry out.

The young brunette struggles to see. She kicks and thrashes as much as she could to free herself from King Shark's grip. But of course, Null knows that the mutated creature is stronger than herself. Then, she feels someone slam into King Shark and a pair of familiar hands pulling her out of the enemy's grasp. Null takes a deep breath. Her racing heart is not helping. She gasps and pants and whizzes.

She feels hands running all over her arms and legs. Checking for injuries, maybe? Null could tell that she's bleeding around her ankle from where King Shark's sharp nails dug into her skin. The stinging sensation wouldn't stop. Her head is spinning and she forces herself to stop swaying. Don't look into the water, Null, she tells herself. No, she takes a deep breath and reminds herself, she can do this. It's _just_ blood. _Her_ blood. Nobody else's but hers. It's not _mom_.

"Null!" The girl snaps to attention when she realizes a hand waving in front of her. "Come on, let's get you back to dry land." Robin starts to pull her along. Null blinks before she notices that the crowd of people are running away from the beach and into the city. She shakes her head, placing her hand on her bleeding ankle. She looks down and takes another deep breath. Her ankle doesn't look too bad, which is strange in Null's mind. After all, this was caused by King Shark—a person who can withstand Superboy's super strength.

"I-I'm fine." She pushes herself up into a standing position, her lower half of her legs still submerged in the water. "I can do this, Robin. I _can_." She focuses on the big brute that's in a deadlock with Superboy and Aqualad. She uses her nullification ability and hopes it works on hybrid humans. After all, it can reduce the Blockbuster serum's effect. But…. was King Shark's mutation caused by something else? It's not the time for her to worry about that. She needs to just try her best to subdue the enemy.

"Kid Flash, Miss Martian, Hawkgirl, and Red Tornado have cleared the enemy's attack on the other beaches. They're heading over now!" Aqualad informs the team that backup is on the way. Null doesn't pay attention to Aqualad's words and continues to focus on releasing her energy on King Shark's body.

"Ignore the blood, Null." She whispers under her breath to herself. "Focus on your task and forget everything else…" But even with her renewed focus, something doesn't feel right. She couldn't release her energy towards King Shark. Instead, she feels too much energy in the air, especially in the direction of the volcano. It's making her own energy act funny. She bites her bottom lip. What else can she do in this situation? She takes a deep breath. An idea came to her. "Hope this works…"

Robin looks around at his other teammates. Everyone is clearly focused on the fight. He smirks, noticing Null's complete concentration on the fight. He pulls out a couple of birdarangs, ready to take the fight to an explosive level. He charges in, warning the others to move as Superboy clears the way for Robin's aim.

Null watches as Robin's birdarangs collide with King Shark, making the hybrid man stagger from the impact. For the first time since the fight begins, a lightness fills her and she finds herself able to ignore everything around her and focus on the energy in the air. She aims both hands at King Shark and instead of pushing energy out, she aims to pull the energy out of King Shark. She watches as he grows smaller and as he loses his shark scales. It's a slow process but it still counts as progress. Superboy and Aqualad takes this opportunity to deliver a final blow just as Artemis fires her arrow as well. Robin finishes it off by surrounding King Shark with his bat-bolas.

Null closes her eyes, taking in a deep breath. She's panting but she doesn't feel tired at all. "Did we get him?"

Robin grins. "Would you ever doubt us?"

Null returns the smile as Robin makes his way to support his best friend.

"Excellent job in apprehending King Shark." Red Tornado says, landing right by King Shark's unconscious body. "Hawkgirl and I will send him to the local authorities. Batman said that you may continue on with your vacation."

Kid Flash, Miss Martian, and Hawkgirl arrive with smiles and smirks on their faces. Miss Martian tackles Null into a hug. "Null! You're safe!" The young brunette staggers but with Robin's help, she manages to stop herself from falling over.

Superboy smirks. "We did it." The Superman clone turns to look at Null.

Null laughs. "We did but…" She looks at her ankle and gives them a weak smile. "I think I'll need to see a doctor and get this checked for infection."

"I'll come with." Robin says, already waiting to move.

Aqualad smiles at Null, a look of pride on his face. "As will I." Null returns the smile, knowing full well that she did something good today.

Kid Flash stands on Null's other side. "I'm coming with too!"

A look of approval from Artemis is all Null needs from the blonde archer and she smiles at the older teen. Then, following Kid Flash's lead, the teenagers walk off after a quick goodbye to Red Tornado and Hawkgirl. Red Tornado answers a call from Batman and Black Canary. "Mission was successful, Batman."

Batman nods. "Excellent news. And what have you learned about King Shark?"

"Nothing." Hawkgirl glares at the unconscious enemy. She notices that Null's nullifying ability is beginning to fade from King Shark as the shark scales are forming again on his upper torso. "But we did learn more about Null's ability."

"We will discuss further when you return." Batman concludes.

Black Canary holds a hand up. "Wait. How was Null?"

"Aside from a bleeding ankle, she seems to be doing well." Red Tornado replies.

Null's mentor sighs, knowing that she will still have to talk to her young protégé. The girl may be trying, but there's only so much Null can do on her own. Black Canary exchanges a look with Batman. There's still so much Null will have to learn, especially after their hidden enemies have taken an interest in her abilities.

x

The man grins to himself. "So, that's how it works. _Fascinating_." He dusts off his pants and jumps down from the low cliff. "Time to inform the Light."

* * *

 ** _Sneak Peek for Chapter 9 is not available because I've not started writing anything yet, but I can say that it's based on_ Episode 9: Bereft _from the series._**

 _ **Thanks for reading! Do leave a comment if you enjoy it or if you have a question or if you have a critique for me :) If you have any tips for helping me improve on writing fight scenes, do let me know!**_

 _ **Have a great week and see you guys on the next update!**_


	9. Amnesiacs in Bialya

Welcome back to another chapter of Null! I'm actually early for this update (though I'm late for my other story...). Thank you a million times to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed this story (and me)! You guys are awesome!

Oh, I can't wait to write more about Null's mom but it'll have to wait. Can't really say anything about the Light and their intentions for Null yet but the new developments in her ability might give you some hints ;)

Anyway, this was an interesting chapter/episode to write because of Null's ability, but I hope I did it justice. Enjoy!

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own anyone in this chapter except Null aka Victoria Adams.**_

* * *

 **Chapter 9: Amnesiacs in Bialya**

Null panics, hearing the unknown voice speaking to the team through the team's telepathic link. She hears Miss Martian's mental shout of distress and immediately, Null's hands reach out to grab onto the person standing closest to her, Robin. She can only remember pulling away from the connection as she squints her eyes shut to combat the foreign command in her head. _Forget_. No, she cannot afford to forget anything. Not in this foreign land where the team is not safe.

The young brunette takes a deep breath and keeps her hold on Robin as she watches her teammates tremble and groan in pain from the mind attack. She releases her nullifying energy and hopes to negate the effects of the mind command that attacked her teammates.

A weird-looking man appears in her mind, frowning at her. "I've been warned about you." He smirks. "But you are not safe from Psimon."

Null glares and pulls away from the connection, keeping her eyes on her teammates as they wander away from her. She bites her bottom lip. What can she do? She looks down at the unconscious Robin and forces herself to get a grip. It's too late and she can't go after her teammates with the out-cold Robin. She places her arms under Robin's armpits and begins dragging him to a more secluded area. It won't be good for them to be out in the open in a desert.

"Sorry, Robin," Null whispers, hoping her best friend wouldn't be bruised from her dragging. She lets Robin lie on the ground as she rummages through her small backpack for anything useful. Some granola bars, a few cookies and two small flasks of water. She'll need to ration the food and water; her teammates might need it, especially Aqualad.

Null sighs and scoots closer to Robin. Now's not the time to be fussy. They need to stay warm for the night. She wraps her hands around Robin's gloved hands. She only hopes that her other teammates are doing okay. She crosses her fingers, thinking about Superboy and how losing his memory would affect him the worst out of everyone else on the team. And _Aqualad_. Aqualad is literally a fish out of water. Her heart clenches as she wonders if she should have gone after Aqualad instead. The young brunette sighs again, running her fingers through her messy hair.

Null hates that she couldn't stop the psychic attack but for now, she just needs to focus on staying warm and staying alert. Then, come morning, they need to look for the rest of their teammates.

x

"Hey, it's time to go, Robin… Come on. Get up." Null whispers into Robin's ear, shaking the boy gently. Robin jolts awake, knocking his forehead onto Null's forehead. The young brunette winces. "Robin, _stop_ , it's me, Null."

Robin rubs his eyes, moving the domino mask slightly. "Null? What are you doing-? Where are we?" The boy in the colorful costume looks around to see sand and rocks everywhere. He frowns, massaging his temples from the throbbing headache he feels.

"I'll explain on the way, but we have to move. _Now_." Null pulls Robin up, adjusting his mask for him and gestures at him to follow.

Robin follows the brunette, still wondering about what happened. He remembers Batman telling him to keep radio silence. So wherever this is, it must be enemy territory. But he can't remember anything else. He doesn't even know why Null is with him instead of Batman. The young brunette should be in Star City or in National City. He doesn't remember her ever taking missions abroad. He doesn't remember taking missions abroad without Batman.

"What date do you think it is today, Robin?" Null asks, squinting her eyes and wishing for a pair of sunglasses or a baseball cap.

"What? It's March 4th, right?" He answers, furrowing his eyebrows.

Null shakes her head. "Actually, no. It's September, Robin."

"What? That can't-" He pulls up his wrist computer and frowns at the date glaring back at him. "What _is_ going on?"

Null takes a deep breath. "Long story short, we're part of this team with the other sidekicks plus a few others. We work for the Justice League." She keeps pulling his hand to follow her. "And we need to find everyone else."

"What are we doing here, Null? And why do you remember everything?"

Null blinks, wiping the sweat from her forehead. "Batman wanted us to investigate the immense power surge that the Watchtower detected. And, I used my nullifying power to stop that…Psimon guy from attacking my mind."

"Can't you just use that to restore my memories?" Robin wonders, pausing his steps as his wrist computer starts beeping. "Oh man!" Robin presses a button on the side as quickly as possible. Both teens look at the holographic screen and notice Robin's GPS marker's current location.

"The equipment!" Null smiles. "Maybe we'll find everyone else when we get there."

"Hold on." Robin turns Null around to face him. "You should try to nullify that psychic attack on my mind."

Null's mouth turns downward into a frown. "But…" She looks down at her hands. After what happened in Hawaii, her power has been acting up. It's like she keeps getting distracted by all the energy surrounding them.

Robin places his hand on Null's arm. "Hey," he grins at her. "What's the worst that could happen?"

Null shakes her head, every worst-case scenario flying through her mind. Robin could lose all his memories. He could have false memories implanted. He could suddenly develop a different personality. Null looks up to see the Boy Wonder's determined expression. She sighs and nods. "Okay, I'll _try_ to do something, but if you feel anything weird...let me know immediately."

Robin places his hand over his heart, trying his hardest to look solemn. "Scout's honor."

Null rolls her eyes and pokes at Robin's cheek when the boy bursts out laughing.

"Come on, Rob... I kinda need to concentrate."

Robin holds his hand up, his laughter dissipating. "Okay, okay. Try it now."

She hovers her hands over both sides of Robin's head and closes her eyes. She could feel the energy of the desert roaring at her. She could feel every grain of sand, every soft touch of the wind, and every movement of the small desert critters. She takes a deep breath, feeling a throbbing sensation in her mind. It feels heavy; her entire body feels heavy but she keeps trying. She bites her bottom lip and focuses on finding the negative energy left in Robin's brain. It shouldn't be so difficult, right? She takes another deep breath, letting out a soft groan. Robin, like Null, could feel that Null's nullifying ability isn't what it used to be. Something is very different. But he doesn't know what the difference is.

The negative energy feels… grey, in Null's opinion. There's no other way to describe it. It feels heavy and overworked. Maybe, what Psimon did was put a mental block of energy to prevent what was already there from flowing back into the circuit. As fascinating as it is to study Psimon's handiwork, the young female superhero focuses on pulling that energy out of Robin's mind.

Null doesn't notice when Robin takes in a deep breath as the missing six months of memories flood his brain. He grabs his head and doesn't know whether to laugh at getting his memories back or wince at the sensation of pain. The negative energy sizzles as Null discharges it out of Robin and into the energy surrounding them. She shakes her hands, glad to be rid of that bad energy. She hates the feeling of it but it doesn't matter. She looks at Robin, looking concerned and poking at Robin's cheeks.

"How do you feel?"

Robin laughs. "Better than how you look right now."

"Let me guess. I have my I-just-swallowed-bitter-medicine face?"

"That's the one!" Robin grabs Null's hand and begins walking in the direction to where they left their equipment. "Come on, we gotta check on that _and_ find everyone."

Null shakes her head, a smile present on her face. "Don't you mean find everyone _and then_ check on the equipment?"

"Minor details." Robin cheekily answers. Null stuffs a cookie into Robin's mouth and grins. Robin begins chewing on the cookie. "Miss M and Null's famous chocolate chip cookie. I must be really lucky." The Boy Wonder teases as the two teens continue walking with Null shaking her free hand every few seconds to get rid of the tingling sensation left by the negative energy.

It doesn't take them long to reach the equipment and for Null to accidentally bump into the bioship. "Found it." She winces, rubbing at her forehead. Robin grins, pulling Null behind a large boulder before the enemy soldiers notice them. She lightly punches Robin and pouts. "Not funny," she whispers.

"Come on, let's go take these guys out."

Robin and Null throw a couple of smokescreen bombs into the area and begin knocking people out. Null pulls her stun gun out of her belt and begins zapping the enemy. She misses using her stun gun. She ducks and kicks at one of the approaching men and grabs his gun before tossing it out of the man's range. Then, she reaches forward and presses her stun gun onto the man's neck. She doesn't even have time to admire her handiwork when another guy comes at her. She takes him out just as easily when one tries to attack her from behind. Robin throws his bat-bola which sends the man sprawling on the sandy ground.

"Thanks, Robin!"

"Anytime!"

A blur of black moves past Null and she hears a couple of men gasp as their guns are taken from their hands. Null grins, taking the opportunity to smack the men over the head with the butt of her stun gun to knock them out. An arrow appears, ensnaring another Bialyan soldier. The young brunette looks around to see Artemis, Kid Flash, and Miss Martian appear as the smokescreen dissipates. She smiles, wrapping Kid Flash in a hug.

Robin stands behind with a grin. "KF!"

Null tosses one of the flasks of water to Artemis, a cookie to Miss Martian and a granola bar to Kid Flash. "Hey, thanks, Null!" Kid Flash rips the plastic and eats the granola in a few bites. "Much better. Anyway, how are you guys, Rob, Null?"

Robin and Null exchange glances. "Kinda tired and in dire need of a shower, but other than that, we're good." Null replies with a grin.

"So, you guys suffering from memory loss?" Robin asks, looking at the three newcomers. Artemis is passing the flask of water over to Miss Martian after taking a couple of gulps of water.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Kid Flash crosses his arms over his chest but his eyes are following the flask of water, waiting for his turn to drink.

"It doesn't matter." Null interrupts. "Right now, we've got to save Aqualad and Superboy."

"Who?" Artemis furrows her eyebrows, looking confused.

"We need to get your memories back. There must be a way for us to…." Null turns to look at the only telepath in the team. "Miss Martian, is there a way for me to share my memories of the past six months with all of you?"

Miss Martian brightens up, a joyful smile on her face. "Yes! Hello, Megan! Of course, I can definitely do that." Within seconds, the team find themselves inside Miss Martian's mind. "I'm going to have to access everyone's mind for this to work."

"You want to paw through our private thoughts?" Artemis looks reluctant and kind of offended.

Null frowns. "Come on, Artemis. We don't have time to waste here." Then, she exchanges looks with Robin as she watches Kid Flash grabbing Artemis' hand to reassure the blonde archer. A smile replaces the frown on her face as she sees it. Something must have happened to the two fifteen-year olds without their memories intact.

Artemis sighs. "Okay, fine. But only the past six months, and only what you need."

Kid Flash grins, tossing the empty flask back to Null. "My brain's all yours. Try not to let its brilliance overwhelm you."

"Or underwhelm you." Robin mutters under his breath.

"Hey!" Kid Flash narrows his eyes at Robin but the Boy Wonder just smirks back.

Null shakes her head. "Come on, guys. Let's focus here. Remember, we have _teammates_ to rescue."

A series of images and conversations fill their minds as they witness everything that has happened in the past six months and most importantly, why they are in Bialyan territory. Null doesn't like sharing what she did when the team was attacked by Psimon, but it might help them find Aqualad.

Miss Martian releases them from her mind.

Kid Flash and Artemis immediately let go of their held hands. But it doesn't stop Miss Martian, Null, and Robin from noticing the slight pink on their cheeks. Kid Flash places his hand on Null's shoulder. "Hey, you made the right choice. We'll find Aqualad and he'll be just fine."

Robin nods. "Yup, he's our team leader. Have more faith in the guy."

Null forces a smile. "You're right. But we should probably go look for him asap."

"I'll try for an aerial search. I'm sure we'll find Aqualad in no time!" Miss Martian flies up into the air.

Robin chuckles. "Actually, I have a better idea." He clicks on his wrist computer and types in Aqualad's name. He looks at the second blinking dot that appears on his screen and points at it. "There he is!"

The rest of the team trail behind Robin as they keep an eye out for any enemy soldiers that might try to ambush them.

It takes the team some time to find Aqualad. Miss Martian's ability to fly and Robin's tracking system help to move things along. Without those two factors, Null worries that they wouldn't know which way to go when everything looks the same: sand, more sand, and even more sand. A couple of large boulders here and there doesn't help much. Besides, with the sun disappearing for the day, it makes it harder for them to really recognize the place. The team gathers around Aqualad. The older blond teen is muttering his native language under his breath, sweat forming to try to keep his body cool. At this rate, Aqualad is going to be too dehydrated.

"I can't restore his memories in this condition." Miss Martian presses her lips together, looking worried.

"He needs immediate rehydration. Call the bioship."

"It's out of range, but you can get him there fast." Miss Martian says, her eyes looking towards the sky. It's obvious to Artemis, Null, and Robin that Miss Martian wants to go save Superboy. They look at one another and give a slight nod.

"Right. I think Miss Martian has a point." Artemis says. "Null, do you have any more food in that bag of yours?"

Null nods. She pulls out the remaining three granola bars and hands them over to Kid Flash. "Will this be enough for you to get back to the bioship ahead of us?"

Kid Flash finishes the granola bars in no time and reaches down to pick Aqualad up. "Okay, I'm going on ahead." He looks at everyone. "Stay safe and see you guys soon!" Kid Flash vanishes off in the direction they were walking from.

Miss Martian turns to the rest of the team. "Thanks. I have to-"

"Look for Superboy. _We know_." Robin interrupts, smirking at the Martian as her eyes widen. "Don't worry, Miss M. We'll be waiting at the bioship for you and Superboy."

"Thank you again." Miss Martian flies off, relying on her telepathic link with Superboy to guide her.

"Come on, we better head back to the bioship." Null wipes her sweat. "I really, really need a shower."

The teens begin making their way back, across the boulders. They are hoping the low light at night would help camouflage them. But then Null feels a hand clasps over her mouth and her heart beat quickens.

"Relax, it's just me." Kid Flash whispers, gesturing at Robin and Artemis to hide as well. "Quick, over there."

Null removes Kid Flash's hand and takes a deep breath. "T-thanks."

Kid Flash grins. "You're welcome, gorgeous."

Artemis groans. "Can't you be serious for at least five minutes?" Kid Flash looks ready to argue when Aqualad starts mumbling in his native tongue. Artemis clamps her hand over Aqualad's mouth. "Shh. Kaldur, quiet now."

Null and Robin exchange looks. "Go." The young brunette tells Robin. Robin grins and vanishes. Kid Flash and Artemis frowns.

"I forgot how much I hate it when he does the ninja thing." Kid Flash comments to Artemis and Null. Both girls shrug in response. "Hey," Kid Flash turns to Artemis. "You never said why your dad would want you to-" he makes a gesture with his index finger across his neck. "Me."

Null blinks, staring at Artemis as the older girl looks awkward. "I got confused by some old movie I saw the other night. About a ninja girl whose ninja dad ordered her to kill her ninja boyfriend 'cause he was from a rival ninja clan."

Null stares harder at Artemis. She has not heard of a movie about rival ninja clans before. Why is she lying to KF? But apparently, Kid Flash doesn't notice a single thing.

"So, I'm your ninja boyfriend, huh?" The ginger haired boy asks, moving his face closer to Artemis' with a smug look.

Artemis looks away, crossing her arms across her chest in a defiant stance. "Hey, amnesia, remember? Completely forgot how truly annoying you are."

"Hey now, behave. We're still on a mission, guys." Null interrupts, grinning at them like she knows something they don't. Robin appears right next to her. "You did it?"

"Were you doubting me?"

" _Maybe_." Null winks at her best friend. She puts her hands up as Robin moves to jab the side of her stomach. "I surrender!"

Kid Flash rolls his eyes. "And you were complaining about-"

An explosion sounds and Robin grabs Null's hand while Kid Flash picks up Aqualad. "That's our cue. Move!"

The five teens make it back to the bioship without running into any other Bialyan soldier. Robin's explosion seems to have attracted their attention away from the team as they sneak away. Kid Flash places Aqualad on a makeshift bed while Artemis and Null scramble around to find the IV drip to get Aqualad rehydrated. Robin walks around the bioship, looking for more water and food that the team could have on their journey home.

By the time Aqualad's IV drip is set up, Null collapses on her seat and sighs. "Remind me that the next time I'm visiting a desert. Actually no, scratch that. I'm going to cancel any future trips to deserts."

"It wasn't that bad." Kid Flash shrugs, leaning against the wall with a granola bar in his hand. "At least we got back our memories."

"I guess-" Null shudders, feeling the sudden surge of energy in the air.

"Null?" Robin asks, placing a hand on her shoulder. "What's up?"

"Oh, I thought I felt something… Must be my imagination." Null responds. Robin gives her a look. "I'll…tell you later." She whispers.

Miss Martian's voice suddenly appears in everyone's mind. "I've got Superboy! He's back to normal, and we're on our way."

Aqualad jolts awake. "Who are you and how did you get inside my head?"

"Hello, Megan! Aqualad's memories! I knew I forgot something."

Kid Flash stands up straighter and smacks his own forehead. "Aw, man. Me, too. I didn't get a souvenir from the mission."

"Don't worry, Wally. Got the souvenir thing covered."

Null looks down at her hands, silently wondering about the changes in her nullifying ability. She plasters on a bright smile. "Hurry, Megan! I really, really can't wait to get out of here."

By the time Miss Martian and Superboy, along with their new sphere-like friend, Null was busy trying to explain to Aqualad about his missing memories while Robin is eating a bag of chips as he watches Kid Flash and Artemis bicker about KF's obsession with souvenirs. Miss Martian turns to Superboy. "Welcome back."

Superboy smiles at the Martian. "It's good to be back."

* * *

 ** _I'm not very happy with how I ended this chapter... but, I hope you guys did enjoy reading it. Thanks for taking the time to read! Do leave a comment if you enjoy it or if you have a question or if you have a critique for me :)_**

 ** _Also, this is embarrassing but I honestly don't have a sneak peek for the next chapter again. Why? I'm still trying to decide between two chapter ideas._**

 _ **Have a great week and see you guys on the next update!**_


	10. Reliance

_**Hey :)**_

 _ **Thanks again to everyone who followed, favorited, and reviewed! Okay, let me say a little something about this chapter first. It's not based on any of the episodes from the series but I believe it's important to have this chapter up for a few reasons. You can probably guess my reasons by the time you're done reading it. Oh right, I'll be taking a short trip soon so my next update will most likely be in two weeks from today. I'll try to get it uploaded before then but no promises!**_

 _ **Enjoy this chapter and hope you don't get a whiplash from the scene changes...**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own anyone in this chapter except Null aka Victoria Adams nor her dad, who is briefly mentioned.**_

* * *

 **Chapter 10: Reliance**

Null dives forward, avoiding the knives coming at her. She pushes herself up and does her best to keep getting closer to the enemy. She looks at her teammates from the corner of her eye. They seem to be doing well, maybe better than her. The girl dodges another spear heading her way by leaning her back against the wall. She watches as Kid Flash is the closest to the enemy, speeding past any of the projectiles flying towards him. Robin and Artemis are both using their own weapons to block the weapons coming at them. Aqualad and Superboy are having an easy time knocking the knives out of the way. Miss Martian uses telekinesis to defend herself and help everyone else.

Null jumps up to avoid another barrage of weapons. She wrinkles her nose, getting annoyed with all the weapons. The team runs toward the enemy. The enemy is a furry creature that looks oddly like the rat-like parent of the teenage mutant ninja turtles. Null can't seem to remember his name but he is starting to annoy her now. The young brunette has a feeling that Green Arrow was the one who decided that the enemy has to look like a giant rat.

"Come on, Null!" Kid Flash shouts, pointing at the enemy.

"Coming!" She yells back as she dodges another knife and slides over to the pillar where the rest of the team are hiding. "Were we supposed to get this training simulation done in five minutes?"

"Yup!" Robin replies, emphasizing the 'p' sound.

"Aqualad, what's the plan?" Artemis asks, aiming her bow at the enemy.

Aqualad takes a deep breath. "Null, can you shut down the simulation with your nullifying ability?"

Null shakes her head. "I… I'm not sure if a simulation would respond to my ability." Or more like, Null isn't confident in using her power these past few days. Her palms are sweaty and her heart is beating fast at the thought of using her nullifying power. She takes a deep breath, feeling the familiar tingling sensation of the energy in the air. "But, I'll give it a shot."

Null closes her eyes and much like what happened in the Bialyan desert, she could feel the minute vibrations in the room. She could feel the energy radiating off her teammates and from the surrounding air. She raises her hand and focuses on releasing her nullifying ability at the enemy.

That's when everything goes wrong.

The entire ceiling starts shaking as the simulation starts to crumble around them. Kid Flash makes a disgusted face as he is the nearest to the melting rat-like enemy. Robin holds Null's hand, trying to get her to stop whatever she is doing but the girl doesn't seem to have control of what is happening. Null winces, forcing her eyes close as a jolt of pain runs through her body. Sparks of light and electricity surround them. Artemis jumps once as she feels a jolt of electricity go through her. The entire team moves closer to Null, each of them putting a hand on her.

"Null!" Their voices blend together. Robin tries to shake the young brunette but it looks like she's not listening and she's not seeing anything. "Null!" The teen tries again.

The team watches as the ceiling breaks apart and a large slab of it is about to fall on them in rapid speed. Aqualad and Superboy are both prepared to smash the falling rock when everything goes blank.

Most of the team are holding onto their heads as they pull the simulation devices off their heads. Null rips the gear away and tosses it to the floor as though it's about to bite her. She sits up and pulls her knees closer to her chest.

It's crazy. It's absolutely crazy. Her nullifying ability has, for lack of a better work, gone rogue.

She looks as her teammates giving her sympathetic looks but she doesn't need their sympathy. What she needs is her power back to normal. She takes a deep breath. "Sorry."

"Sorry doesn't cut it." Batman interrupts, standing in front of the young brunette with a stern look. "What's going on, Null?"

Black Canary places a gentle hand on Null's shoulder, giving her protege a reassuring smile. Null nods. She looks at her hands. "To be honest… I have absolutely no idea what's going on."

Batman frowns. "Explain."

Null clasps her hands together and straightens her back to try to regain her confidence. "Every time I try to use it, and even when I'm not, it…I get so distracted. I feel heavy, dizzy, like a whiplash of feelings and vibrations just decided to ambush me. I used to, how do I explain this? Like you know how a magnet works right?" She looks at everyone in the room to see them nod in response. "My power used to work like two like magnets repulsing each other. But now, it's more like attracting magnets. It's like I'm a vortex sucking up the energy around me." She blinks and looks at Batman, her eyes pleading for answers. "Is there…something wrong with me?"

Batman exchange looks with Black Canary, Green Arrow, and Martian Manhunter. "We'll figure something out, Null. For now, you are excused from missions."

"What?! Why?!" Null frowns, clenching her fist. She feels Robin squeezing her other hand but she doesn't look his way. Instead, she turns her watery gaze to Black Canary. "Even without my nullifying power, I _can_ still fight. You've trained me!"

Black Canary places a hand on the young teen's head. "We know." Black Canary reassures her protégé. "But we don't know what's happening to you or your power. Why don't you use this time to catch up with your schoolwork and your part-time job?"

Null takes a deep breath and looks at each of her teammates. She could see the worry in their eyes though Artemis and Superboy are better at trying to hide it than the others. She closes her eyes and nods, too afraid that if she verbally agrees, her tears will flow.

But, Null crosses her fingers, she won't let them stop her from protecting National City. Her city is hers alone and she will be its defender. She has no plans of stopping that.

 _She won't_.

x

Liz wrinkles her nose. "You know, Tori, you've been looking really tired lately." She places her hand over Tori's hand.

Tori forces a smile. "Well…it's been pretty busy. Mid-terms and all coming soon." And being part of the team, she thinks to herself. _Except_ , she isn't joining them on missions until the Justice League figures out what to do.

"Oh, don't remind me!" Liz frowns. "God knows I don't need the extra stress." Liz leans forward and whispers into Tori's ear, "Hey, any ideas on what song you're gonna sing for the concert?"

This time, a real smile appears on Tori's face. "Right, it's that time of the year again." She laughs, putting her index finger on her lips and winking. "It's a secret!"

Liz shakes her head. "Oh, alright. I won't pester you this time _but_ you won't be so lucky next time!"

Tori laughs again, running her fingers through her hair. Of course, she can't tell Liz anything when she doesn't know it herself. Not that she'll ever admit it out loud. She drums her fingers along the table and waits for classes to begin for the day. Taking a deep breath in, she tries to ignore the feelings of energy emanating in the room and hopes that the Justice League figures something out fast.

After several hours of classes, Tori stretches and starts to pack her stuff, or more like shove her stuff, into her bag. She stands up and waves bye to Liz and her other classmates when the teacher calls her back. Blinking, the young brunette walks over to her teacher.

"Miss Adams, the headmistress would like to see you before you head home."

"Oh." Tori frowns. "Did I do something wrong?"

The teacher smiles and shakes her head. "Oh no, don't worry about it. Why don't you go on ahead now?"

"Right. Thanks, Mrs. Keith." Tori makes her way over to the headmistress' office, trying to figure out if she did anything wrong in the past few months. She knocks on the wooden door and hears a voice asking her to enter. She twists the doorknob and enters the fairly-large room.

"Ah, Miss Adams. Glad you can make it!"

"Of course." Tori takes a seat in front of the headmistress, forcing a smile onto her face. "Is there something wrong?"

"Nonsense! What makes you think there's something wrong?"

"Because you called me to the office?" Tori points out.

"Oh yes… you're right. People would think that, wouldn't they?" The dark haired, bespectacled headmistress leans in and smiles at the teenager. "It's not anything bad, per se. But, I've been paying close attention to your grades over the month and I must say, Miss Adams, what's going on?"

"O-oh… I'm sorry, I've just been… It's just been a busy time for me."

"Yes, yes, I'm aware of you winning the Vocal Division of the Interschool Queen Competition, but Miss Adams, you _must_ maintain your grades if you wish to continue receiving the scholarship. Do you understand?"

Tori nods. "Of course." She clenches her fists. First, her abilities, and now this? Tori lowers her gaze. "I'll do my best, ma'am."

"That's well and all, Miss Adams, but you must increase your grades for the upcoming mid-term exams or I will be forced to take your scholarship away. Do you understand?"

"Yes, ma'am. I can do that." Tori stands up and bows at the headmistress before leaving the office. Tori sighs. It's true that her grades aren't up to par lately but with her nullifying ability acting up, she's been trying to figure out a solution to _fix_ it. To be honest, Tori doesn't even know if her power is broken or if it's disappearing or maybe she's losing her mind. Perhaps… she'll use her sudden free time to study.

x

Tori groans, frowning at her streak of bad luck. She tosses the burnt chicken into the trash and slams her hand on the kitchen counter. She takes a deep breath. Maybe things are starting to get to her. No, even if they are, Tori knows she has to keep going on. She picks up another defrosted raw chicken meat and adds it into the frying pan. She sighs as the chicken cooks. She needs to get back to studying and then figure out what song she wants to perform for the annual school concert.

After eating a quick dinner, she leaves the leftovers in the refrigerator for her dad to heat up when he gets home. Her heart tightens as she remembers the weary expression on her father's face. She needs to study and get better grades. She needs it to help him. She runs up the stairs to her room and pulls out her textbooks and her laptop. First things first, Tori needs to finish her math worksheet. She smiles wryly, knowing that Wally would find the questions too easy.

"Good evening, National City! This is Jenna Greene and as always, thank you for tuning in. We've received word from Police Chief Hudson that people should avoid going into Greenview and South Side. There is a massive burglary attempt-"

Null is already in costume as she switches the radio off. She makes her way to the crime scene by riding a bike. Reaching the location, she leans her back againstmthe wall and listens in on the situation. It sounds like there are about five hostages in the building. Enemy count is about eight of them. Null frowns, looking out at the cops surrounding the building. Of course, there are more cops than there are thieves. But, Null frowns, how are the police officers planning on rescuing the hostages.

She needs to sneak into the building. Looking up, Null notices an open window. Then, Null thinks to herself, she could ambush the enemy by going through the air vents and shutting the lights. Her hand touches her belt and she searches for her infrared glasses. It's not going to be easy to take on eight people on her own while trying to protect the five hostages. She climbs up the building and enters through the second-floor window. Looking around, it doesn't seem like anyone is up on the second-floor. She looks around for the air vents and crawls into it. She pulls the grate back on to cover her tracks. She crawls into the air vents and takes a closer look at the situation. Frowning, she wishes she has Kid Flash's super speed or Miss Martian's telekinesis.

She looks down at her wrist computer and connects to the building's systems. One of the benefits of being friends with Robin is that Null can learn nifty tricks like hacking. She takes a deep breath. When she gets down there, she'll need to immediately take out the robbers or at least remove their guns. It's her best option since she won't be able to just pick up the hostages and leave without putting all the innocent people's lives at risk.

She will only have three minutes at most to pull this off.

She puts on her infrared glasses and shuts the lights. Jumping down from the air vents, she moves quickly and karate chops the back of the robbers' necks to knock them out. "Run for the doors now!" She hisses at the hostages as she gives them a push. She hears a woman yelping but she doesn't have the time to hold their hands and lead them to safety. There's still five hostile people in the building. She runs and kicks the gun out of one robber's hands. She could see his shaking hands. She sighs and gives him a swift knock at the back of his head. That's when she feels a gun at the back of her head. She stops herself from flinching.

"Shouldn't a little girl like you be in bed?" The person asks.

Null rolls her eyes. How many more villains are going to make fun of her age? First, it was Star Sapphire and then it was Mister Twister. She's getting a little tired of the treatment. She glances at the corner of her eye and sees a silver object landing on the floor. Instantly, she closes her eyes and covers her mouth as the smoke bomb goes off and the lights come back on. She feels a gust of wind as the person that was behind her got knock to the ground. She opens her eyes, unsure if she should be smiling or frowning.

An arrow flies through the air, puncturing another guy in the leg. A blast of water hits another. She could hear bones cracking as someone got punched. The burglars are all suddenly moving into the center of the room and ropes begin to encircle and tighten around them.

"What are you guys doing here?" Null settles on frowning at them. "I had the situation under control."

Kid Flash rubs the back of his head. He exchanges looks with the rest of the team. "We um,we…wanted to join in on the fun!" He says uncertainly.

Null sighs. "You don't have to worry about me. I _can_ still fight even without my nullifying ability. Or have you all forgot that Black Canary trained me?"

"We remember!" Miss Martian answers quickly. "But we just thought… we knew…" The young Martian looks pleadingly at Superboy.

Superboy stares at Null. "You did good." Miss Martian is shaking her head, groaning into her palms at Superboy's attempt. Artemis leans against the wall, looking at the scene play out in front of her.

Aqualad and Robin walk over to Null. The blond teen places his hand on her shoulder. "You are our teammate. It is our wish to help you, Null."

"Why? Cause you didn't think I can defend myself? I'm _not_ weak, Aqualad. This _isn't_ the ocean. It's not like with King Shark. _I'm fine_." She shakes her head. "Look, I appreciate your help but National City is _my_ city. I can protect it just fine." She turns around and walks off to where the cops are still standing around. "The robbers are tied up in there. All accounted for, officers."

"That's good news. Thank you as always, Null."

She shakes her head again. "Don't thank me. Thank them." She gestures at her teammates before she picks up her bike and begins walking home.

"Null!" Robin clasps a hand on her shoulder, holding her still. "Come on, we were just trying to help."

"I know. And that's the problem." She closes her eyes and sighs. "Don't you guys believe that I can handle the situation?"

Robin reaches for her hand and squeezes. "Follow me. I'll turn your disconcerted into concerted." As Robin turns to lead the way, Null couldn't help but smile. No matter what, she can trust her best friend to come up with weird words. But he is still _arrogant_. Robin brings her to a quiet park after buying milkshakes. Null sips on her milkshake and turns her gaze to the moon.

"Thank you for the milkshake, Robin." Robin could hear the exhaustion in her tone. He knows that it's more than just her malfunctioning power and her being banned from missions that are causing her negative thoughts. Robin scoots closer to her when he sees the young brunette rubbing her arm for warmth.

"Hey, you're usually happier when I get you a milkshake." He nudges her arm with his elbow.

Null rolls her eyes, lightly smacking his elbow away.

"It's not that we don't believe in you." Robin looks at Null, trying to get her to look at him. "It's that we're friends and we're a team. We worry about you."

"That's the thing! Am I that weak? I've been training. I've been training since…" She runs her fingers through her hair, her gaze turning watery. "I became Canary's sidekick because I wanted to be strong. And here you are, here you all are, telling me that _I'm not_?"

Null feels Robin's hands on her shoulders as he turns her to face him. He reaches forward and flicks her nose. She rubs her nose and smiles as Robin pulls her into a hug. "We don't care about you being strong or weak, idiot. You're our friend. That's all we care about. You can ask us for help just like we'll ask _you_ for help. Besides, I know you'll do the same if you saw a gun pointed at the _back of my head_."

"Yeah…that was pretty reckless of me, huh?"

Robin scoffs. "Stupidest thing you've ever done."

"Fair enough. I just hate being barred from the team." She leans her head forward to rest it on the crook of Boy Wonder's neck. "But, thanks, Robin." She sighs. "I'll apologize to everyone tomorrow."

"You better. Miss Martian was disturbed by your reaction."

Null's mouth curled upwards into a weary grin. "Right, I'll just have to get her feeling turbed soon."

Robin laughs. "Welcome to the dark side."

She punches his arm as he continues to laugh at her. After a few seconds of trying to keep a straight face, Null gives up and starts laughing too. Null looks out at the moon, silently telling herself to be patient and to do her best. Because no matter what, she knows she has some nosy friends to rely on.

* * *

 ** _Thanks for taking the time to read! Do leave a comment if you enjoy it or if you have a question or if you have a critique for me :)_**

 _ **I don't have the sneak preview for the next chapter yet. But if I do have something, I'll add it to my profile page!**_

 _ **Have a great week and see you guys on the next update!**_


End file.
